The Legend of Mana
by fantasyguy50
Summary: Everythings up and finally in Chapter format. Basic plot - a powerful Kei pirate comes for Gene and our heroes dont know why. Please R/R!!! ALL O.S. fans should LOVE this!!! Expect more eventually, since I left it at a cliffhanger. ;) On to DBZ!!!
1. MacDougall Trouble Again?!?

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Hi, I'm Justin. I'm the narrator. I wrote this, the first 'episode' of my Outlaw Star series with several things on my mind. What happened to Gwen Khan? Where could the new location of the Galactic Leyline be? What's so important about Gene's red hair? How would Melfina react if she saw Harry again, knowing too well what happened to him before? What's Earth like that far into the future? How is Gene gonna earn enough money to repay his debts to Fred and Swanzo? What happened to all the minor characters that helped the crew along the way? What will Gene's nickname be? Hopefully, I'll answer all those questions and more in this series. So here it is – episode one of the second season of Outlaw Star, as written by me.

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MACDOUGALL TROUBLE AGAIN?

The streets of San Francisco buzzed with life. Everyone was busy with their work, planning for the next day's business. Aircars rocketed up and down the avenues downtown on multi-layered traffic, the automated drivers piloting the best course home. An electronic scaffolding washed windows somewhere near the 350th floor of the interplanetary trade commission building as a Sylgrian businessman awaited the arrival of his taxishuttle on a nearby climate-controlled balcony. He ruffled his blue feathers as his shorter, human, personal assistant accepted a phone call via his cellular earring. Nearly a kilometer below, a cloaked figure stepped out from his aircar, which then parked itself vertically on the exterior wall of the building.

The shrouded man stepped toward the street as the traffic came to a stop at the intersection. He pulled his hood down to his shoulders and made his way across the obsidian street, his short, candy-apple hair catching a slight breeze. As he stepped onto the cement sidewalk, he scratched at the dark scar across his face, then put his sunglasses into his pocket and unclasped his cloak. He came to a door that displayed the name "Gyodo's Grocery" on the door and entered, just as the people on the sidewalk began to crowd the path.

This man is known as Gene Starwind, cofounder of _Starwind and Hawking Enterprises_ and captain of the grappler ship known as the _Outlaw Star_. Wherever he goes, opportunity is never too far ahead and chaos is never far enough behind. He is rich enough to maintain his small business rather well, but works still to help the common good. This man is what you might call an opportunist.

Since the _Outlaw Star_ and its crew returned from their quest to the Galactic Leyline, Gene and his comrades have made a name for their business. The San Francisco police consider them "law enforcement without a badge". They are marshals of the peace – legalized bounty hunters – although that is not all that they do. They are private investigators, personal bodyguards, a bomb squad, a rescue service, negotiators, personal trainers, a tugboat crew, treasure hunters, conspiracy theorists, and scientists of extraterrestrial archaeology, in addition to being restaurant co-owners. That is quite a résumé, considering that _Starwind and Hawking Enterprises_ consists of only seven minds.

Gene Starwind, whom you have met, is the leader of the business. He makes all the decisions as far as which jobs they take. He stands about six feet tall and has short red hair. His entire body is covered with ill-healed slash-mark scars, making him rather easy to pick out of a lineup. He is a womanizer, even though he is courting the love of his life. Gene knows he's in charge and abuses his authority. He likes the feeling of power. He likes it a lot.

Jim Hawking, the other half of _Starwind and Hawking Enterprises_, is a kid with tawny hair and a head for numbers. All the accounting for their business is done through him. All transactions, fees, and expenses are continuously updated in his head; nothing gets past his knowledge of business.

Gilliam is the central computer of the _Outlaw Star_. Without him, nothing space-bound would get done. He has a potential for infinite knowledge due to his connections to encyclopedic databases far and wide. If you have a question, ask Gilliam, but be polite… for your own sake.

Melfina is the single most advanced constructed lifeform in historical records. Physically, she IS human, but her mental capabilities far exceed those of any normal person. She can become one with the _Outlaw Star_'s navigation system to advance the ship's flying capabilities. Without her, the _Outlaw Star_ could never leave the ground. The dark-haired Melfina is also an outstanding cook and the most polite person you'll ever meet, unless you meet a Sylgrian.

Fred Lou is the financial support of Starwind and Hawking Enterprises. He has donated more than one million Won to Gene since Gene came into possession of the _Outlaw Star_. One reason for this is that Fred thinks that Gene is cute.

Aisha Clan-Clan was once a ranking officer in the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire, but was forced to leave after causing problems during her mission to claim the Galactic Leyline for the Ctarl-Ctarl. Like all Ctarl-Ctarl, she is ten times stronger than a human and can transform into a tigerwolf, her strength depending on the fullness of the moon. Aisha closely resembles a human, but is definitely feline in mannerisms and in mind. She has a tendency of losing her temper, but property damage is included in her insurance, so she can usually afford to rebuild what she breaks. Too bad for the insurance company that sold THAT policy.

Twilight Suzuka is trained in the focus of energy. With her wooden sword, she can kill anything that once lived by channeling energies into her attack. Suzuka, with her long dark hair and white kimono, is beautiful and deadly. She has never been in debt and has no plans for being there.

Together, these seven make the single most effective team in the known universe. They are the members of _Starwind and Hawking Enterprises_. They are the crew of the _Outlaw Star_.

A dark figure sat on the bench on the street corner, watching every move Gene made. Even in the broad daylight, this man's features were indiscernible under the bill of his hat. When the door shut behind Gene, the traffic of the sidewalk engulfed the sentinel. As the flow of traffic subsided, it was clear that the bench had emptied. There was no sign of the man that had been there.

OUTLAW STAR

Inside the grocery, Gene reached into his pocket and pulled out the grocery list Melfina had handed him on his way out the door. The list flipped out several times to reveal the entire list.

Gene gawked at the length of it and then squinted at the first item. "She didn't even write that big," he said. He drew his finger along the list, stopping part of the way down. "What on Earth is a kumquat?" he asked himself.

He looked around the store, thinking, _I've gotta get someone to help me with this list_. He let his head fall back with discouragement just as someone walked by. He opened one eye to look at her as she passed.

Gene's mouth fell open in awe. _Wow_, he thought. _What a woman!_ She was his height and had the same ruby hair he had. _Man_, he thought, _I can't see her face_ – his eyes traced her figure – _but what a view this is!_ He shut his mouth to clear his throat.

ahem

"Excuse me miss," he said, "could you help me find some of the things on my list?"

_Please, please, please…_

The woman turned around and Gene's mouth dropped open again. _It's like the face of an angel_… Gene thought, staring into her cerulean eyes. His eyes shifted from her eyes to her breasts. His mouth dropped some more.

Quickly realizing his appearance, Gene shot to attention, smiling guiltily with his hand extended behind his head. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. He laughed nervously as he said "Hi."

The woman smirked knowingly as she returned the greeting.

_Phew!_ Gene thought. _She wasn't offended. Must be my lucky day._ As he stopped laughing, he looked at the list. With a confused look on his face, he looked back at the woman. "What's a kumquat?" he asked.

She smiled more broadly. "It's something you won't find in a city store like this," she said.

Gene slouched. "Oh," he said disappointedly. "Thanks anyway." He waved and turned to leave.

There were instantly hands around his bicep. "Wait," the woman said as he turned back toward her. She was smiling. "Aren't you going to ask me where you _can_ find it?"

Gene absently asked her. "Where can I find some kumquat?" he said quietly.

"Do you want me to show you?" she asked.

Gene said nothing; he only gawked.

"C'mon!" she said. "I'm parked down the street. We can make it before they close if we hurry!"

Gene blinked as if he was returning from hypnosis. He placed his hand on hers, which were still holding his arm. "Well then," he said. "We should hurry."

OUTLAW STAR

"You're the guy from the ads on TV, aren't you?" the red-haired woman asked Gene as they took the exit ramp out of downtown. "Starwind, right?"

"That's me alright," Gene said, fiddling with the satellite radio, "Captain Gene Starwind of the _Outlaw Star_ –" he looked up and grinned "– the better half of _Starwind and Hawking Enterprises_."

__

That should impress her.

"You do all sorts of odd jobs, right?" she asked him, keeping her eyes on traffic.

"Depends on the money involved," Gene said absently. He sat up straight, a light bulb burning in his brain. "Why?" he asked. "You have a job?"

__

Please have a job, please have a job…

"I would, but I doubt I have enough money…" she said dispiritedly.

Gene frowned and looked out the window. Another light bulb. "We could still try and help if it's not too time consuming," he said, pleased with himself.

She smiled and glanced over at him. "Really?!?"

Gene nodded, smiling.

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Should I fill you in now or what?"

Gene pulled out a business card and handed it to her. "I have people who do that part for me," he said. "Just call that number and ask for Mr. Hawking or Ms. Suzuka."

Obviously ecstatic, the woman beamed as she said "Okay."

_You are the MAN, Gene Starwind_, Gene thought, smiling confidently. His smile faded. "Oh, yeah," he said. "What's your name?"

"April," she replied, looking over at him. "April Fujihiro."

Gene smiled again. _April_, he thought. _April, April, April_… his smile faded. _Melfina_… He swallowed hard. _Gotta stop doing this, Gene. You're a taken man._ He sighed and rested his face in his hand. He looked over at what he considered to be a gorgeous woman and sighed again, closing his eyes.

A light rain began to fall on the windshield.

OUTLAW STAR

"What do you MEAN you don't know where he is?" Jim Hawking shouted at the female Ctarl-Ctarl. "He went to the store THREE HOURS AGO!!!"

Jim, Aisha, and Melfina sat in the kitchen of their recently acquired restaurant. Jim held a clipboard tallying the inventory for their opening night.

Aisha put her head on Jim's head. "Calm down," she said contently. "Don't get your diapers in a bunch!"

Jim growled at her as he removed her hand from his hair.

Melfina sat on a stool behind the large stovetops. "Maybe he had car trouble," she said pleasantly. "He's probably on his way right now."

Jim stormed around the kitchen, fuming, scowling. "But three hours without a call!" he yelled. "It's not like Gene at all to leave us hanging like this!"

Aisha snatched Jim up by his shirt collar and began to carry him out of the room. He struggled, shouting "What are you doing, Aisha?!?"

"We're going to go find Gene, of course," Aisha smugly replied.

Jim let his body hang like dead weight in Aisha's hand. "Alright," he said. After a pause, he mumbled, "Can you please put me down now, Aisha?"

Aisha dropped him onto the floor with a thud and sauntered out of the kitchen.

Jim picked himself up and dusted himself off, scowling.

"I'll stay here in case the employees begin to arrive," Melfina said.

"Alright, Mel," Jim said, waving. "See you later."

"Bye," Melfina responded.

OUTLAW STAR

"So where do you think he is, Aisha?" Jim said as he pulled out of the aircar garage.

"Gyodo's," Aisha responded from the passenger seat.

Jim frowned. "Gyodo's doesn't have what we need," he stated. "Why would Gene go there?"

Aisha ruffled Jim's hair. "This IS Gene Starwind we are talking about," she asserted. "He's probably at the closest grocer he could find."

Jim considered the possibility. "You think so?" he asked.

"I know so," Aisha said. "There is no force quite as powerful as Ctarl-Ctarl intuition."

"If you say so," Jim retorted, turning left onto a busier street.

OUTLAW STAR

Steam and scented oils filled the small candlelit room while Suzuka lay on a massage table in the center. Sounds of the surf washing onto a beach played through some unseen audio system. Her robe and sword sat in the corner near the door.

To understand the apparent luxury Suzuka lives in, you must first know that she does jobs independent of _Starwind and Hawking Enterprises_, allowing her to save more money. Also, she only spends her money when it becomes necessary. She eats only as much as the body needs. That allows her to maintain her body through physical therapy sessions, visits to spas, and personal training.

Lying on a massage table is an activity that Suzuka does weekly. The employees of the beauty salon know her well and enjoy her company. _Usually_, Suzuka thought, _they're here on time_.

The door opened.

__

Speak of the devil…

"Hey," an unfamiliar voice boomed in the small, quiet room. "I'm Trent. I practice in Los Angeles, but sometimes I come here to lend a hand."

He picked up a clipboard as Suzuka glanced at his feet. Something about the style of his shoe struck her as odd. _Where have I seen that before?_

"Miz Suzuka, I see," Trent said. "An oil massage and a visit to the sauna."

"Yes," Suzuka replied. "Do I know you?" she inquired.

"I don't think so," he replied as he began to massage her upper back. "Have you been to L. A.?"

"No," she replied.

__

Why do I know that voice?

Trent's plain brown shoes were caked with mud.

__

Odd…

"I recognize you, too, Miz Suzuka," Trent said. "You're one of those guys that do odd jobs around town aren't you?"

"Yes," Suzuka replied, trying to picture the shoes in her mind.

"Must be good to work with friends," he continued.

Now she recognized his voice too… so she closed her eyes and tried to envision the speaker. A picture of a foe defeated and buried flashed into Suzuka's mind. _LEILONG!_

She jumped up, wrapping the small towel around her. She looked into his face, recognizing him immediately as the abdicated scout from the Anten Seven. "I thought you were dead!" she shouted frightenedly.

Leilong struck out with his palm, but Suzuka rolled off the table toward the door. Her personal belongings were gone.

"I'm sorry," Leilong said. "This is an ends to a means, Suzuka."

He struck forward with his elbow and Suzuka fell, unconscious. He shouldered Suzuka, draping her robe over her, then slipped through the door.

The candles all flickered out, leaving her sword in a darkened room.

OUTLAW STAR

"I sure hope he's here," Jim said, pulling up on the sidewalk outside of Gyodo's.

Aisha slapped him across the back. "Don't worry," she assured him, opening the door for him. "A Ctarl-Ctarl is never wrong about these things!" She stepped inside after Jim. "In fact, a Ctarl-Ctarl's never wrong about anything!"

Jim, cowering, pulled on Aisha's cape. "Ai-Aisha," he stammered nervously. "I think that maybe Gene's not here anymore. gulp"

Aisha opened her eyes to see the entrance of the grocery filled with similarly dressed fighters. Each of them had a black ski mask on.

"Meow!"

"What do we do now?!?" Jim cried. "There's like eight of 'em!"

Aisha pushed Jim to the door. "It's nothing that a Ctarl-Ctarl can't handle." She bared her sharpened teeth and growled as her pupils enlarged. She could feel the hair on her body stand on end, and she could feel herself becoming seemingly lighter. Her hair floated above its normal position. Her claws extended in preparation for the attack.

__

Bring it on!!!

All in one sightless moment, she pounced upon the nearest foe, who didn't know what had hit him. The remaining opponents charged on her at once, surrounding her. She struck out at another one, then another, but these fighters had advanced skills and impressive stamina. She slowed her assault to think. She glanced around the room to see anything she could use as a weapon _en masse_. Her eyes stopped on the door. The young Mr. Hawking was no longer there. She blinked and her heightened senses again lowered. "Jim?!?" she demanded.

__

Where are ya, kid?

The seven remaining fighters converged on her and brought her down. One of them pulled out a gun and sedated her with a quick injection into the back of her neck. She struggled, but quickly lost the power to fight. A dark figure wearing a black ballcap approached her, carrying Jim on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "This won't hurt at all." He laughed and removed the hat, revealing the face of Ron MacDougall. "That is, it won't hurt me." He turned to one of the assailants and gestured for him to step forward. The man removed his mask, revealing a clean-cut, square-jawed face with a head of short brown hair and two true blue eyes.

"Meow…?"

Aisha fell unconscious just as the man struck down with his fist.

OUTLAW STAR

Melfina sat at a small table in the dining area of the empty restaurant, with her head resting on her folded arms. She lay there, half in sleep, hoping that Gene would come waltzing in through the door at any moment.

__

Where are you, Gene?

There was a noise from the kitchen. The employee entrance had slammed shut.

"Gene?!?" she called. She stood up and pushed her chair in. The sound of kitchen utensils bouncing off of each other echoed through the dining hall. "Gene," she called again, "is that you?"

__

Please be you…

She slowly walked to the kitchen. At first, she didn't notice anyone there at all. Then, she saw a figure standing in the shadows near the refrigerators.

"You're not Gene," she said to the figure.

"No, Melfina," it said, "I'm not Gene, but I am someone you love." The figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Harry!" Melfina gasped. "It can't be!"

"It is me," Harry said. "Look closely and you will know it to be true."

Harry no longer appeared robotic at all. His body was restored to its original condition. "But you're dead!" Melfina said. "This isn't really you!"

"My body died at the Galactic Leyline," Harry said, stepping forward. Melfina stepped back from him. "Don't be afraid, Melfina," Harry said to her. "In mind and spirit, I AM the Harry MacDougall you love."

"No," Melfina breathed, on the verge of tears.

"When I was mostly robotic, I took it upon myself to create a digital copy of my mind and memories," Harry said. "When I died, the file of my memory opened itself, with every memory up to my leaving the _Shangri-La_," he continued. "I _am_ me, Melfina."

Melfina shook her head as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Now I exist as a computer program," Harry proceed to explain. "I can be transferred from this body to the _Shangri-La_ when I return. If this body is destroyed, others will be waiting, ready for the most recent copy of my mind to be installed. There is always a copy that will exist." He stepped forward again. "I am immortal, Melfina."

Harry continued to approach Melfina until he could embrace her. She let her face rest on his chest. "I missed you, Melfina," Harry whispered, gently placing his hand in her hair. She held on to him, crying. "My brother and I need your help," he said.

Melfina looked into Harry's eyes. He smiled warmly and kissed her forehead. She hugged him closely and closed her eyes.

OUTLAW STAR

Jim rubbed the lump on the back of his head as he sat up straight against the wall of his cell.

__

What happened?

The last thing he remembered was… the face of Ron MacDougall.

He stood up quickly, placing his head against the cold steel bars in an attempt to look out to the hall.

__

Not this again…

The MacDougall brothers had been their greatest adversary since they had first met each other. Ron, the older brother, had had something to do with the murder of Gene's father many years ago. They were later employed by the Kei Pirates to kidnap Melfina and bring her to the Galactic Leyline, where she would be used as the key to the universe's most advanced encyclopedia and all-giving force. In the process, Harry, the younger brother, became unholily infatuated with Melfina and turned against the Anten Seven and the Kei Pirates to save her. To the end, however, Gene had been mortal enemies with Ron.

There was only one thing that Jim could think. _ They have Gene, too…_

He plopped down against the bars. "This really stinks," he said.

"Jim," he heard Aisha whisper, "is that you?"

"Quiet!" a voice yelled. "Ron has ordered me to not let you three speak."

"Oh, yeah?!?" Aisha yelled. "You're all big and bad when I'm sedated or behind bars! Why don't you let me out and face me one-on-one, now that I've got my fighting strength back?"

"Injuring my hostages is not one of my orders," the man said.

Jim shuffled across to the far corner of the cell and pressed his cheek against the bars so that he might see the sentry. A tall, thin, muscular figure with short brown hair had his back to Jim. Jim could also see Aisha in a cell on the far side of the room.

"Injuring ME?!?" Aisha declared. "You couldn't touch me!"

"I'm not going to touch you," the man said, "so don't worry about it."

Aisha laughed. "I'll bet any money you're just afraid to take on a Ctarl-Ctarl like me," she taunted. She got down on all fours so she could look at his face, which he had turned to the floor. "Aren't you?"

He gave her a cold look and walked away toward a third cell. "Remain silent," he said. "You may still be able to leave when Ron acquires the girl."

"You mean Melfina," Jim said.

The man looked up at him.

"She's special, you know," Jim continued. "It seems like there's always someone after her."

"I know she's special," the man said. "Else Ron wouldn't want her."

__

This guy's just following orders …

"Why are you working for MacDougall?" Jim questioned.

The man closed his eyes and leaned against the empty cell, showing no emotion. "I must," he stated.

In a fourth cell on the end opposite Aisha, Suzuka had been sitting in silence. Now fully clothed, but still without her sword, she thought only of Melfina's welfare. _She is a key to a dangerous knowledge_, she thought. _We can't let that knowledge into the wrong hands like with Hazanko_.

Ron stepped into the room. Suzuka leaned further into the shadow to hide her face. With Ron were several of his lackeys, and Leilong.

Their guard paced militaristically toward Ron.

"Did they behave, Helper?" Ron asked the guard.

"Well enough, sir," Helper responded.

_Helper? What kind of a name is that?_

"You can go shut down if you'd like, Helper," Ron said. You aren't needed as long as our guests are in their cells.

Helper nodded, bowed, and left.

_He's a –_

"I get it!" Aisha shouted. "He's an android! No wonder his punch actually hurt me!"

Ron turned to her cell. "He's no android," he informed her, "he's much more special than that. It's good that I've rendered him incapable of realizing so, or he might turn on me." He leaned toward the cell. "How are these bars, Ctarl-Ctarl?" He grinned. He tapped them with his robotic right hand.

Aisha growled, but stared at the hand.

Ron looked at it. "Oh, I see you've seen my gift," he said. "Your friend Gene gave this to me the last time we met." He clenched and unclenched my hand, looking at Jim and Suzuka. "It was my Caster hand. When the _Shangri-La_ picked me up, the hand was lifeless – the result of a close call with a number nine Caster shot. I had it replaced when we returned to Sentinel."

_We?_ Suzuka thought. _Harry?_

"How is Gene?" Ron asked Suzuka. "So far he's eluded us…"

Suzuka was relieved, but it didn't show on her shadowy face.

"You don't have Gene yet?!?" Jim shouted. "That's great!"

Ron swiftly stepped over to Jim's cell. "_NO_!" he yelled. "_IT ISN'T_!!!"

"It is for Gene," Suzuka said smoothly.

Ron looked at her and smiled. "I suppose you are right, Ms. Suzuka," he said, "but it is _very_ bad for you." He faced her and looked her in the eye. "I have come to Earth for two things," he said calmly. "The girl, Melfina," he paused "and Gene Starwind's shooting hand on a platter." Raising his voice, he continued, "And I will kill one of you every hour until I have both!"

He straightened his jacket and adjusted his collar, clearing his throat. "My brother undoubtedly has the former prize by now. It's up to everyone's hero to show up with the other." He walked toward the door. "Leilong," he said, "kill our young Master James in one hour, will you?"

"Yes, sir," Leilong replied.

"Zeke, Crow," Ron said to two dark-haired men, "stay here. The rest of you –" he gestured for them to come with him.

As they left, Jim shook with fear, his eyes watering.

Suzuka sat silently in her cell. _Gene_, she thought, _where are you?_

Leilong frowned as he watched Jim quake.

OUTLAW STAR

"Listen, April, I'm flattered, but I'm not interested."

Gene was pleading with the buxom redhead in an apartment. She had taken him there instead of to the store.

_Is this Gene Starwind talking?_ he pondered. _What happened to the guy I was a year or two ago back on Sentinel?_

"Come on, Gene," April flirted, "I knew from the start that you wanted me. What's different now? Would you rather we did this at your place?"

"No, here's fine," Gene said quickly, before he could catch his words. "I mean, it would be no different at my place. I'm just not interested, okay?"

"Are you playing hard to get?" April asked as she grinned widely. "If you want, I could be the cop and you could be the robber, and I could chase you."

Gene thought about it. "No thanks," he said as he backed into some furniture. "Role-playing isn't my thing."

April stepped up to him and gave him a shove. He fell back onto the sofa and she climbed on top of him as he started to scoot away. "Listen, lady," he said. "I've gotta have those groceries to my cooks in like two hours or my restaurant won't open in time."

She paid no attention as she untucked his shirt.

"Hey," he shouted. "Stop that."

"Come with me to bed," she said.

Now Gene had his eyes clenched shut, grimacing, pretending it wasn't happening.

_I promise to be a good boy. I promise to be a good boy. I promise to…_

She was off of him, but his hand was in hers. He looked up at her shadowed face.

"C'mon," she said.

Gene stood up and followed her into a different room.

_Stupid…_

He laid down on the bed and she laid on top of him, kissing his neck, placing his hands against the metal bars of the headboard.

Gene made no real effort of participation. _This better be over in a hurry…_

click

Gene opened his eyes to find April standing at the foot of the bed. His hands were handcuffed to the bed. "What the –?"

"Stay put," April said. "I have a phone call to make." She began to walk away. "That wasn't as easy as he told me it would be," she said.

Gene frowned. "What?!?" he shouted. "'He' who?"

He could hear the phone dial the number. April stuck her head in the door. "Try to be quiet," she said. "This is kind of important." Then she was gone.

Gene tried to see through the door, but couldn't arc his head far enough. He gave a sigh of failure and laid his head down on the pillow, trying to get comfortable.

_Don't worry_, he thought. _This is better than what you THOUGHT was gonna happen._ He frowned. _Isn't it?_

OUTLAW STAR

beep-beep beep-beep

Leilong reached into his pocket and pulled out something the size of a ballpoint pen. He pulled a cord out of one end and placed the round ball on the end in his ear as it beeped again. He flipped out the other end and talked quietly into it.

"Hello," he said.

"Hey boss," Crow called to him from the other side of the room. "Who is it?"

Leilong waved his hand at Crow to silence him.

_"Gene's safe,"_ came the response on the phone.

"Good," Leilong said. He flipped up the end of the phone and let the cord wind its way back into place. Returning it to his pocket, he thought, _Let's get this show started_.

"Was that the big boss with the order to scrub little baby boy over there out?" Crow said.

Leilong nodded as he reached for the keys.

_1… 2… 3…_

He threw the keys in Crow's face so hard that they cracked his eye socket. Faster than Zeke could look up, Leilong had already fired two shots. Leilong's companions lay dead.

_I'm sorry guys… but that's the way life goes when you have a black heart._

He stepped over to Crow's body. He lifted the keys from the ground. A little chink in the key ring showed that the bullet had deflected off of the keys in their descent before passing into Crow's heart.

_Now THAT'S a souvenir._

He unlocked Suzuka and passed her the keys. She unlocked Aisha, who was still gawking at the situation. "I thought he was supposed to be the bad guy," she stammered.

Suzuka unlocked Jim's cell. He had been rolled up in the fetal position, crying like a newborn, but had sat up straight when he realized that the gunshots weren't intended for him. He leapt into Suzuka's arms and squeezed, happy to be alive.

"Suzuka," he whimpered. "I thought…"

"I know," she said, stroking his hair and lifting him up.

"C'mon," Leilong said. "We should hurry if we want another 'Helper'."

Aisha frowned. "Does he mean…"

Suzuka yanked Aisha out of the room as they followed Leilong toward Ron MacDougall's loyal Helper.

OUTLAW STAR

"But I thought he was a bad guy!" Jim quietly exclaimed. "Why do _we_ want _him_?"

Leilong stopped and put his hands on Jim's shoulders, then crouched to look Jim in the eye. "No, Jim, he's one of us." He looked to where Suzuka and Aisha were standing. "He just doesn't know it," he continued, then looked back at Jim. "He was the life's work of Professor Gwen Khan before Khan stumbled across the Grave of the Dragon. He's a cyborg that can manipulate his genetic material when provoked, or in this case – when told."

"Manipulate?" Aisha asked. "How does he do that?"

"He controls his cell growth and can manipulate the sequence of his DNA," Leilong explained. "He uses his old cells to morph into something new, as long as that 'something' is stored in his brain. His skeleton was engineered to expand and contract to duplicate different bone structures." He stood up and raised his right index finger into the air. "With one finger, he can take a genetic sample," he continued. "He's done it to me, and to the two of you." He pointed to Suzuka and Aisha. "That means that he could literally become any one of us."

"Whoa…" Jim breathed.

"Freaky!" Aisha exclaimed. "That means he could go around causing trouble in my body and make _me_ look destructive."

Suzuka quickly replied, "He wouldn't have to do much. You've already done quite enough to make you seem destructive."

"Oh yeah…" Aisha said. "I guess you're right about that, Suzu."

Suzuka sighed.

Leilong grinned. "Anyway," he went on, "Helper isn't this thing's name. It chose the name 'Eldred' and wrote the DNA for the body you see himself. That body is more durable than any born from a mother and father – even more durable than mine." He paused, raising the finger again. "Plus, with that same finger, he can absorb liquid matter and microscopic solids to increase his muscle mass. All he really needs is some water, but that's a time consuming process that we cannot allow him to use."

"Wait a minute," Jim said. "what I don't get is – why is he a bad guy in the first place?"

"He was protecting Melfina from Hazanko by working covert ops in the Anten group," Leilong explained. "Plus, he did it to save a friend. Eventually, he challenged me and intentionally lost. Only I knew that he really wasn't dead because only I knew that he wasn't human. I jettisoned him into space. I was later told by MacDougall that Eldred had been badly injured in space. By the time some vagrant Outlaw picked him up, he was unable to do much. They repaired him and decided to sell him to MacDougall. MacDougall made sure that the used space of Eldred's Personality and Memory Board was disconnected so that an obedient drone would be created. After MacDougall returned from the Galactic Leyline, I came to him, having learned Eldred's fate. I was hoping to find him well enough to convince him to leave, but he remembered nothing. He didn't appear interested in learning, either. MacDougall must've somehow programmed him to only respond to orders from him or his brother. He will answer questions, but doesn't learn from them. He just gives flat responses like an old Microsoft operating system."

"Microsoft," Jim asked. "What's that?"

"Nothing important," Leilong answered. "We need to focus on shutting Eldred down so we can repair him."

"How are we gonna do that?" Aisha asked.

Leilong, appearing quite disappointed, shrugged.

Jim sat down to think. "Do you have any idea whether a verbal command shuts him down like Melfina?"

"No," Leilong replied. "That was something specific to the Leyline Project."

"Then a button?" Jim asked.

"I'm assuming," Leilong said. "But I have no clue where." He stopped to think. "Somewhere in here are his blueprints."

Jim looked up. "That's great!" he shouted. "I can read _any_ blueprints!"

"Well, let's find them, then," Aisha stated matter-of-factly.

Leilong led them further down the hall.

"I have another question," Jim said. "How did a guy like MacDougall get a place this big on Earth at such short notice with _his_ track record?"

Leilong smiled. "That's a good question," he replied, opening a door.

They continued on and the hall was silent again.

"What's the answer?" Aisha asked.

Leilong smiled.

OUTLAW STAR

Gene lay silently with his eyes shut, thinking.

_What have you gotten yourself into THIS time, Gene Starwind? A pretty face with a hot body comes along and you end up chained to her bed! What were you thinking?!?_

He listened to the silence for awhile.

"I know what I was thinking," Gene said to himself, closing his eyes in scorn. "Maybe if I started thinking with my heart instead of my –"

"Are you hungry?" April called to him. "I feel like I'm being mean to you."

"Oh yeah?" Gene returned. "You think?"

April now stood in the doorway. "You probably won't believe me," she said, "but I'm actually protecting you."

"That's what the cops on Sentinel always used to say," Gene retorted. He looked at her silhouette and squinted. "That brings up an interesting point," he said to her. "The law here on Earth is a lot tighter than anywhere else. You could serve time for this."

April strolled over to the bed and sat down beside him. "If I get caught," she said, and paused, "but I don't think I need to worry about that."

"Oh yeah, and why not?" Gene asked.

"Because the law tends to stray away from important people like us," April told him with a smile.

Gene stared at his two guns on the endtable. He looked up at her, asking "What makes you so important?"

April looked Gene in the eye.

_What's she lookin' at? Is she hiding something? Alright, Gene Starwind, play it cool and she'll tell all…_

She smiled. "I guess I can tell you now," she said. "The MacDougalls are here after Melfina, but they won't leave until you show up to confront Ron."

Gene turned away. _I've gotta go get her! If Mel's in danger…_

"The reason you're here and not there is that we already have help on the inside," April continued, watching Gene's distress. He looked up to her.

"I should be there," he insisted. "No one should be saving Mel but me!" He turned away again. "What about the others?" he asked.

"They are safe," April said. "They're working with my partner to save our friends."

"_Our friends_?" Gene asked, looking her in the eye. "MacDougall has a friend of _yours_ too?"

April nodded. "He grew up and learned with me back home," she said, a tear dropping from the corner of her eye. "He saved me from the Kei Pirates two years ago. When I found out he was still alive…"

"Who is he?" Gene asked. "And what do you have to do with the Kei Pirates?"

"He is the only one I ever loved," she said. "When my parents died and my uncle took me in, he was there with me. Back then he didn't have much of a personality, but my uncle worked with that." She turned away, another tear trailing down her cheek. "He was all my uncle cared about."

Gene rolled toward her some to comfort her. She looked at him as she wiped her nose and smiled. Putting the tissue away, she pulled out a key and undid the handcuffs. Gene sat up onto the edge of the bed beside her.

"As I grew, so did he," she said. "My uncle would tinker and build…"

Gene frowned. "Tinker and build?"

April looked at him. "Oh," she said. "I didn't tell you. I'm sorry. You see, Eldred isn't human. Back then he was just a robot, but he became so much more. He learned to care and to want, and eventually he constructed himself a human body. But when the Kei pirates showed up, Uncle dropped all of his work with Eldred to start with the 'Leyline Project'."

Gene shot to attention, standing up. "Leyline project?!?" he cried. "You mean, your uncle is…"

April smiled. "Professor Gwen Khan," she said with a you-figured-it-out attitude. "He's my father's brother."

"But I thought you said your name was –"

"Fujihiro, I know," she said. "I just made that up as I was talking to you. I didn't want you to start asking questions before I could explain the situation. My real last name is Khan."

"So, this guy's like a friend to you?" Gene asked.

"More than that," she responded. "We were in love."

Gene thought for a bit. "Isn't he like a cousin to you?" he asked.

April smiled. "Not really," she said.

_But he is Melfina's brother_, Gene thought. _Sorta._

There was a crash in the front room. Gene's hand grabbed for his Caster as he loaded a Number Fifteen Shell. He stepped to an area of the wall beside the door, pulling April with him.

_Two voices_, he thought. _Three sets of feet…_

With the pistol, he fired a shot into the room. A soft thud resounded as a body fell to the floor. Guns fired at the door, then silence. Over his heavy breathing, Gene heard a whisper.

_What are they saying?_ he thought. _Hold your breath._

As he held his breath, the soft murmur became clear.

"Padua-sanfa, padua-sanfa, padua –"

_Oh shit!_

OUTLAW STAR

"Don't you think that someone knows that we've escaped?" Jim asked as Leilong poked his head into a room.

"Probably, Jim," Leilong said, shutting the door. "We've gotta hurry. The guy we're looking for is probably looking for _us_ by now."

He opened another door, smiled, and went in. "This is it," he said.

They entered the small office and turned on the light. Leilong pulled on a desk drawer, yanking it out and breaking the lock.

"Showoff…" Aisha mumbled. "I could do _that_!"

Leilong cleared the desk and spread the blueprints out. Jim climbed on top of the desk to get a better look. He got down on his hands and knees, scouring the paper for any sign of an on/off switch. "Here!" he shouted, pointing at the left armpit. "It's inside his armpit at the bone."

"_At the bone?!?_" Aisha shouted. "How are we supposed to get at it there?"

Leilong held up his hand to silence her.

Footsteps in the hallway…

"There," someone shouted outside, "Doctor Han's office!"

Leilong, Aisha, and Suzuka stormed out of the room. In the hall, they found their next goal. Eldred stood there with five lackeys. At once he pounced at Leilong, but all three of the heroes were there to pounce back. Swordless, Suzuka concentrated on the energies of her hands as she struck down on Eldred's neck. Leilong's fists cracked hard against Eldred's metallic jaw. Roaring, Aisha scratched against the armpit, tearing the constructed skin apart. Eldred's fist landed hard in Leilong's gut. Saliva flew from Leilong's mouth. The four fell apart as the lackeys began their approach.

Leilong staggered backward, staring at the cut that Aisha had left near Eldred's shoulder. Slowly, it closed up, leaving only the blood to show the wound. Eldred wiped the blood away, revealing the new skin beneath. Leilong caught his breath and pulled out the pistol, shooting down two of the lackeys before the click of the gun told him he was out of ammo. He tossed the gun aside and pounced at a third. By the time the body hit the floor, Aisha and Suzuka had dropped the other two.

Eldred struck at Leilong's head, sending him flying down the hall to skid face-first on the cold metal floor. Suzuka pounced and wind pushed Eldred back several centimeters. Her sword found itself speared deep into Eldred's gut. She looked up into his eyes, feeling the warm blood flow from down the sword. Eldred simply reached up and held her head with both hands, then threw her head-first into the nearest wall.

Aisha had been standing still, letting her blood boil. She could feel her Ctarl-Ctarl lineage give her power as the Moon shone down on the ground outside. She quickly turned into a large white tiger with long, dark ears. Her clothing was ripped apart as she transformed into the beast. Her cape billowed, minute in comparison to the new form of its wearer.

Eldred was focusing on healing the wound. As it became healed, he looked up, just as Aisha pounced. He went flying with her on top as she sank her teeth into his shoulder, ripping flesh from metal. With that arm, he struck upward at Aisha's jaw. Her head snapped backward. She shook it off and looked down at him as he pulled back again to strike. The second blow struck her in the eye. Half-blinded, she stepped back.

Eldred stood as his shoulder tried to heal. The bleeding stopped and skin healed over despite the obvious lack of muscle mass. He stepped forward toward the beast as she pounced again. Swift as lightning, Eldred dodged her bite and crippled her other eye with his fist. She screamed an awful beast-scream as she thudded against the floor. He pounced on her, sinking his right index finger into Aisha's back. Like magic, his shoulder reformed to its original proportion. He removed his finger, leaving a massive wound in the skin on Aisha's back.

As he stood, Aisha de-transformed to her normal body, her choker and cape all to keep her warm.

Eldred looked at his allies. He stooped to check the pulse of one that lay nearby.

_BLAM!_

His shoulder short-circuited and he fell forward onto the lackey's crippled body.

Jim Hawking stood alone in a crowded hall, pistol in hand.

OUTLAW STAR

Gene fired the #15 into the other room and dragged April to the floor. Bright lights filled the room as it burst into flames. April and Gene staggered to their feet and jumped out the window. Their bodies froze in midair as the chant grew louder. Gene stared into space, unable to move or speak.

"Padua-sanfa, padua-sanfa, PADUA-SANFA!!!"

A single figure emerged from the wreckage of the burning building. Despite the light from the flames, the Tao master's features were hidden in the pitch-black folds of the robe it wore. It levitated toward the space where Gene hung frozen in air. A long sleeve of the cloak reached out to touch Gene's hair, then April's.

"Two for the price of one," the dry, genderless voice hummed. "Padua-sanfa, padua-sanfa, padua-sanfa, padua-sanfa…"

There was a bright flash and all that remained was the burning building.

Gene's Caster dropped to the ground.

OUTLAW STAR

Leilong sat up from his position sprawled on the floor. He looked around to see his new comrades sitting together down the hall. Jim was staring at something on the floor. Aisha, badly injured, lay unconscious across Suzuka's lap. Suzuka had been trying to focus her energy into the wound in Aisha's back, but looked up at Leilong as he stood.

"I thought you were dead," she said in astonishment.

Leilong popped the vertebra in his neck. "You make that mistake too often," he said, looking down at Eldred. "We got him?"

"You can thank Jim," Suzuka said.

"All it takes is a little ingenuity!" Jim proudly boasted, giving a thumbs-up.

Leilong ruffled Jim's hair. "Congratulations, kid," he said. "If only Gene could be here to see your victory."

"That's where you're _wrong_, Leilong," Jim replied. "If Gene was here, nobody would've gotten hurt. It would've been _him_ who woulda put the bullet in this guys armpit."

Leilong smiled. "I guess you're right," he said.

Jim traced his finger along the blueprints he had spread across the floor. "I can't figure this guy out!" he shouted. "These blueprints suck!"

Leilong shouldered the hulking Eldred like he was a small child. "Don't worry about that now," he said. "We've gotta find Melfina."

Suzuka stood, with Aisha in her arms. Jim rolled up the blueprints and stuffed them in his jacket. "Right!" he shouted. "Let's go!"

Leilong plucked a gun off of a nearby lackey, then hastily paced down the hall with the others in his wake.

OUTLAW STAR

April awoke to pitch-darkness. A slow metallic hum told her she was in a spaceship.

_Where am I?_

She felt around on the cold metallic floor until her hand came to a wall, then followed the wall to an opening. Steel bars greeted her fingers. She felt around on the floor on the other side of the bars until she felt something solid.

_A boot?_

It moved. Se shrieked and slid backwards in the cell.

A cruel laugh started from the other side of the bars. The dry, genderless voice from her house began to speak again. "Do I scare you, woman with red hair?"

April shivered. "Who are you?" she asked weakly, scared. "Why is it so dark?"

"My name is not important," came the voice. "Just know that I am the most powerful Tao Master that still lives today. I am older than you can imagine, and could buy or destroy a planet such as Earth at a moment's notice." The voice paused. "It is dark because I like it."

"Are you a man?"

"To be a man, I must first be human," the voice said. "I am human. To be a man, I must also be male. I am male. To be a man, I must be mortal. I am _im_mortal. I am not a man."

"Why did you kidnap me?" April asked.

"To settle my debt to a weaker being," he answered.

"Who?"

"A subordinate in the Kei ranks who saved my life when I was young," the answer came. "Not that it should matter to you."

"Why me?"

"That is not an answer I can give," the voice responded. "You will need to speak with my friend to acquire that answer."

April heard the movement of her captor's cloak. "Where's Gene?" she asked.

Silence was her only answer.

"Well?" she whispered, coming closer to the bars. She listened carefully. ""Are you still there?"

She felt around on the other side of the floor, this time without finding a boot.

A million thoughts were flowing through her mind. _How powerful is he really? What did he do to Gene? Did Leilong save Eldred? Does this have anything to do with Melfina?_

Why does this Kei soldier want me?

OUTLAW STAR

Leilong stopped by a pair of large double doors. "They're right through here," he said, setting Eldred down. "On three."

Suzuka set Aisha down beside Eldred and began to prepare to pounce through the door. She nodded, raising her hands for the attack.

Leilong put his hand on the doorknob. "One," he whispered. "Two." His hand was on his gun now. "Three."

The pair busted through the door. The large room they entered was silent. A computer hummed softly on the other side of the room. Leilong searched the small rooms that were connected to the large one. Suzuka glanced around, looking for clues.

"No, Aisha!" Jim hollered from the hall.

Aisha poked her head through the doorway. "What's goin' on?" she asked. "I thought that those guys were supposed to be in here."

"They were," Leilong said. "I guess they ran when they figured out I turned on them."

"And just left Eldred behind?" Jim asked.

"They don't care about him," Leilong replied. "He's just a thing to them, and not a very important one."

Suzuka turned on the monitor of the computer. As the plasma display became clear, Suzuka frowned.

_Kei pirates?_

"What is it?" Leilong asked, strolling toward her.

_What are they doing here?_ Suzuka thought. Then it came to her. _Melfina. That's why the MacDougalls ran_.

"Come on," she said. "We have to get to the ship." She left the room, assisting Aisha toward the exit.

"But how are we gonna fly it without Mel and Gene?!?" Jim shouted as they left. "It's impossible!"

Leilong looked at Jim from his position in front of the computer. "Nothing's impossible, Jim," he said. "There are always alternatives."

He left the way he came.

"What alternatives?" Jim asked as he left. There was a long pause. "Of course!" he shouted from the hall. "That's perfect! But that means I've gotta work hard between here and the spaceport!"

OUTLAW STAR

"But that's a _Kei pirate_!!!" the helmsman Leo shouted aboard the _Shangri-La_. "No way am I attacking him!"

Ron began to chuckle. "I don't think you understand," he said, reaching into his cloak. "I gave you an order." He pulled out his Caster staff with his cyborg hand.

Leo stepped back and fell into his seat.

"Do you wanna die, Leo?" Ron asked, charging the shell.

Leo stared down the glowing barrel of the weapon. "Hey, don't get me wrong," he said defensively. "I'm always up for a good fight. No way would I pass this up!"

The Caster dimmed and Ron put it away. "That's better," he said, sitting in his chair. "I've lost enough men today. It would be such a shame to lose the last one I have left."

_Gonna lose your own life, goin' up against a Kei pirate_, Leo thought. _I like this job, but you couldn't pay me enough to WANT to do what I'm doin' now_.

"Are we ready for departure, little brother?" Ron asked.

"All systems green," Harry replied from his liquid navigation control center. "Is Melfina safely buckled in?"

"Don't worry about her," Ron said. "She's as safe as can be, given the situation."

"Then everything's definitely green for go," Harry said. "Here we go."

OUTLAW STAR

"There's the spaceport," Leilong said from the wheel of a MacDougall airvan. "And sure enough, there goes the _Shangri-La_."

"My back kinda hurts, guys," Aisha said. "I don't think we should wake that guy up just yet. He might go nuts and blow us all to smithereens."

Jim looked up and stared at Aisha through his magnifying spectacle. "Give me a little credit, Aisha," he shouted. "I know what I'm doing, okay?!?"

"Fine," Aisha said, "but don't look at me for help when you're splattered all over the highway."

"What a pleasant thought," Suzuka mumbled.

"Hey, Suz," Aisha said, "where's your stick?"

"It's not a stick," Suzuka replied. "And it got left behind when Leilong kidnapped me."

"Oh yeah," Leilong mumbled. "Sorry about that. It's not like me to forget things."

"I'm sure they're keeping it safe for me," Suzuka said. "I'm a regular there."

There was a long pause.

"And _STOP_ calling me 'Suz'!!!"

"Hey, I think I'm done," Jim shouted. "I'm gonna turn him on!"

"It's unbelievable what that kid can do with a paperclip and a screwdriver," Suzuka said. "It really is quite amazing."

"I'm not a kid!" Jim shouted. "But thanks. The paperclip was to reconnect his old memory board. The screwdriver was to get in there and also to turn him on." He looked down at the bloody mess. "I got pretty grossed out by the blood on this guy. It's so _real_!"

"It _is_ real," Leilong said. "Except for his bones, ligaments, and some cartilage, he's an authentic human being."

Jim looked down at Eldred and at his own bloody hands. "Eww…"

"Turn him on," Leilong suggested. "Let's see how you did."

Jim held his palmtop scanner above Eldred's armpit as he inserted the screwdriver. Eldred shot to life. Instantly, the tissue that Jim had cut away began to rearrange itself and heal over. He blinked thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry about that back there," he said. "I wasn't myself." He smiled.

Leilong smiled back in the rearview mirror. "I see your sense of humor is back to normal as well," he said. "It's good to have you back on the side of good."

"Look who's talking," Eldred joked.

"We're almost there," Suzuka said. "Jim, have you radioed in to Gilliam?"

"Yeah," Jim said. "He's gonna have everything ready for us. We just need to provide the pilots."

Leilong looked at Eldred. "That's me and you, buddy," he said. "This experience is gonna be a little bit different for you."

"Oh yeah?" Eldred said. "If it's anything like how I was piloting the _Shangri-La_ these past few weeks, it'll be cake to pilot."

Leilong chuckled. "It's something like that, actually," he said, then paused before asking, "You actually flew that thing?"

"Yep," Eldred said. "It was pretty cool. I could make a habit of it." He took off his torn jacket and used it to wipe the blood off of his head and arm. Perfectly healed, he rubbed his head. "I think someone left a screw loose in here."

Jim looked disappointed. "Oops," he said. "I was kinda in a hurry…"

"I was joking," Eldred said.

Leilong pulled the van to a stop and they all piled out. They sprinted across the launch pad to where the _Outlaw Star_ was parked and were greeted by a pink capsule.

"I thought that was you driving up," Gilliam said. "The ship is ready as requested, Jim. They just got it out onto the launch pad before you pulled up."

Jim grabbed the capsule as he stepped into the lift up to the hatch. "Thanks," he said. "We've gotta go get Mel from those MacDougall creeps."

"And Gene from the pirates as well," Gilliam said.

"What?" Leilong inquired.

"That's why the MacDougalls left in the first place," Gilliam reported. "They were after Gene."

_Damn!_ Leilong thought. _April_…

"I have a question," Eldred said. "How did the ship's computer request launch clearance."

"The people here know me pretty well, actually," Gilliam said.

"You out here by yourself twenty-four-seven?" Eldred asked him.

"Yeah," Gilliam said. "It gets pretty lonely."

OUTLAW STAR

"We're closing in on the vessel," Harry said from his tank.

"Receiving transmission," Leo reported. "It's the Kei pirate."

"Show me," Ron ordered.

A thin picture became clear in midair. It was pitch black.

"Come on," Ron groaned. "Can't you do anything right? Bring it into focus."

"It's _in_ focus," Leo asserted.

"Then why is it black?!?" Ron shouted.

_"Why do you pursue me?" _came the voice over the transmission, cutting through the dispute like a laser.

"You have someone we want," Ron answered after a pause. "Gene Starwind. Give him to us."

_"I will not surrender Starwind to you,"_ the voice answered.

"Why not?"

_"He is in my custody and will remain in my custody until I deliver him to the person for whom I am acquiring him."_

"Then bring him over here so I can cut off his hand."

_"No."_

"I can come over there if you want…"

_"Starwind will remain healthy while he is in my custody. You will not remove his hand."_

"Are you aware of the capabilities of this grappler ship?"

_"Are YOU aware of MY capabilites?!?"_

The transmission cut out.

Ron pulled out the headset for the dorsal grappler arms. "Deploy the cameras and prepare the _Shangri-La_ for grappler combat."

"Ron!" Harry shouted.

"Are you out of your mind?!?" Leo shouted. "He's a Kei pirate! And from the looks of that ship, he's a _Tao master_ to boot! No way am I gonna get myself killed fighting _that_!!!"

"_DO IT_!!!" Ron screamed at Leo. "I _will_ have Gene Starwind's hand!"

"Ron," Harry said, "this isn't like you. Before you would've backed away and let the pirates do your dirty work. What's changed?"

"I think that that number nine altered his brain," Leo mumbled.

Ron chuckled. "Oh, you think _that's_ it, huh?" he stood up and leaned over to Leo. "That might be true, but mostly it's because _before_, Gene Starwind was the target of a _job_ and _now_, it's _PERSONAL_!"

"Ron," Harry said calmly, the negotiator, "calm down. We'll get him next time. Would you rather lose your life trying to settle this?"

Ron sat down and thought, strumming his cyborg hand on the console. He removed the headset. "Alright," he said. "Figure out where the pirate is taking Gene and follow him from a distance. Be smart. For now, pretend to make a descent."

The ship changed course and the pirate vessel seemed to accelerate away.

The computer beeped in alarm.

"What is it?" Ron asked, looking around in the space in front of them.

"Another ship," Leo reported.

"The XGP!" Harry exclaimed.

"I guess that means our 'Helper' lost," Ron said. "That would take a lot to do…"

"They're hailing us," Leo said.

"Let's hear what they have to say," Ron told Leo.

Leilong appeared on the display. _"Give her back, Ron,"_ he said. _"She's not yours to keep."_

"She came voluntarily!" Harry shouted. "She wants to be with me!"

_"She does not, you jerk!"_ Aisha shouted. _"She wants to be over here with her friends where they won't use her as a tool for interstellar power!"_

_"Aisha, sit down!"_

Ron glanced around the bridge of the _Outlaw Star_. His eyes came to rest on the organic navigation stasis tank. "Helper…" he whispered to himself.

_"Here's Johnny!"_ Eldred sarcastically mocked. _"How may I be of service, o great and powerful… not to mention wise and honorable… master?"_

"How?" Ron said to himself. "He was programmed…"

_"To lie? To cheat? To steal?"_ Eldred offered. _"Howbout this – to ignore my past. To ignore ME. Is THAT what I was 'programmed' to do?"_

"You were better off!" Ron returned. "You were better off not knowing that you were built by a man who had lost his mind, better off not knowing that you had lost the one you loved, better off not knowing that you had sold your soul to the Anten…"

_"No,"_ Eldred said. _"You were better off with me not knowing those things. You took away my curiosity, my wisdom, my honor, my integrity, my intuition, my sense of humor, my compassion… you took it all! And YOU got a new toy to save your ass when trouble started."_

"Enough!" Ron shouted. "You shouldn't have switched sides, because I'm not giving up Melfina so easy. That means that when you try to gt her back, _you're_ toast!" He put his headset back on, turning to Leo. "Prepare the grappler arms for combat!"

"Alright!" Leo said. "_This_ I can do!" He geared up for the lower arms as the picture blinked out.

The six grappler arms of the two ships broke away in unison as the ships dove at each other.

OUTLAW STAR

"Trust me," Eldred was saying. "I know what I'm doing. Just leave it to me. It feels like they're actually my arms. It'll be a lot easier this way!"

Leilong frowned.

"Plus," Eldred continued. "We won't hafta buy more camera pods."

That caught Jim's attention. "Give him a chance," he said to Leilong. "You can take over if you think he's not doing well."

Leilong continued to frown.

"You hafta make a decision soon!" Eldred insisted.

"Okay," Leilong said. "Do it."

The arms of the _Outlaw Star_ crashed into the _Shangri-La_'s nose, scraping off some of the bulkhead.

_Power and precision…_ Eldred thought. He closed his eyes and felt the _Outlaw Star_'s movement. It careened to the right, avoiding the blows from three of the _Shangri-La_'s arms. The fourth blow managed to nick the edge of the left grappler arm. With the right arm, Eldred punched at the belly of the _Shangri-La_, now exposed. It left a huge dent near the nose. As the ships continued to move, Eldred dented the belly of the _Shangri-La_ near the rear. Leo's grappler arms struck downward at the _Outlaw Star_ as it was propelled just centimeters out of reach. The ships moved away from each other, then turned to face each other.

Eldred saw then a sight he had not expected. The grappler arms of the _Shangri-La_ returned to their storage positions.

"What the…?" Leilong muttered.

"What do those fools think they're doing?!?" EAisha shouted.

"They're giving up!" Jim yelled, throwing a fist to the air.

"I don't think so," Eldred said. "They're revving up their engines now. They're trying to get away. They saw my irrepressible skills and quaked in their underoos!"

"It feels like Gene's still here with that kind of cockiness around," Suzuka said.

Eldred smiled.

"We have to stop them!" Jim insisted.

"I'm on it," Eldred informed him as the ship lurched forward again. The grappler arms reared back as the _Outlaw Star_ approached the _Shangri-La_ at full tilt.

The _Shangri-La_ disappeared into sub ether with a flash.

"Dammit!" Eldred shouted.

"Where'd they go?!?" Leilong hastily asked.

"After that pirate ship," Eldred reported.

"Where's that?" Aisha asked.

"It looks like it was pointed into pirate territory via the quickest route possible," Eldred said. "I'm revving the sub-ether drive as we speak."

"Let's go!" Aisha shouted, throwing her fist into the air. She winced and reached down to her aching back. "Ouch…"

"There's a colony near the border on this course," Eldred said. "We should be able to make it there in four jumps, which means that we'd arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon by New York Earth Standard Time."

"Let's do it," Suzuka said.

"Yeah!" Jim shouted.

Leilong remained quiet, focused.

"This is your captain speaking," Eldred reported. "The 'Fasten Seatbelts' sign is now on. Please make sure that your seat backs and tray tables are in their upright and fully locked positions."

The sub-ether drive systems finished their startup.

"We hope you enjoy your flight."

In a moment, the _Outlaw Star_ and it's crew vanished into the distance, destination unknown.

TO  
BE  
CONTINUED!

__

Hey everybody, this is Gene Starwind. Boy am I in a fix! It looks like April and I are on a direct course to Kei pirate central! Our dark and mysterious host settles his debt, but first, we run into some of our old allies! You'll never guess what could happen to this vagrant outlaw on the next exciting episode of Outlaw Star, titled "Into the Fire"! You'd better get ready!


	2. Into the Fire

__

You may be aware that the universe has mysteries with clues so ancient that no living being can know exactly what to believe. One such mystery is the origin of Tao magic and Caster weapons. Tao magic is the use of prayer to summon the spells of Priests long since dead. The ammunition of Caster weapons is new spells controlled into a hard metallic shell. There are only twenty kinds of Caster spells, though the Priests who developed them are long gone, creating a shortage. These Priests created the shells because the Mana they needed for new spells was constantly being depleted. Tao magic is a way of reusing old Mana spells, developed after the deaths of many of the Priests. Priests still exist, feeding on what little Mana they can to prolong their lives, but it is common knowledge among them that they will not live forever. The strongest of the Caster spells cannot be reproduced by Tao magic. The only three Priests who could make these strong spells are also the three who have lasted the longest. For all extensive purposes, they are all that remains of the Priesthood, though many of the weaker descendants of their kinfolk do remain, and can manufacture the other seventeen types of shells.

Lord Ark Manaf, Twelfth Head Priest, makes the number Thirteen shells, which contain one of the three strongest Caster spells. If the Mana flow were great enough, Ark could use the same magic from the number Thirteen without the aid of mechanics. This is the power of the Priests. Ark stands tall and proud and young-looking in his prime, with long orange hair, a sign of a strong Priest.

Lord Hadul was once young and orange-haired like his younger companion, but he has aged more swiftly than Ark. He is reaching the end of his days, and soon the number Nine shells will be no more.

Lady Urt does not have orange hair, but that does not mean she is any weaker than her counterparts. You see, females, especially those who are ancestors of Urt, are naturally better magicians. Her spells are stronger than those cast by Ark and Hadul by far; she does not need the benefits that come with having red hair to cast strong magic.

Now to explain the importance of red hair… You see, back in the days of the colonization of the Solar satellites and the construction of the primitive colonies, there was a wise and adventurous young couple who decided to explore beyond Pluto. For decades, they were thought of as lost fools, ignorant to the dangers around them. Nearly seventy years later, an alien ship entered Earth-space with the couple's ship in tow. The Earth-vessel was badly damaged, but intact. The tall feathery aliens, called Sylgrians, had intercepted it entering their space from uncharted regions. The couple was gone, but onboard was a small child and a computer record of the parents' DNA. The child had bright red hair; silvery blue eyes; a strong will, body, and ego; and never felt at ease with his surroundings. He sought change in everything he did. Always looking for a new adventure, he set out, pioneering the uncharted regions in his Sylgrian-built Ether drive space vessel. He was branded an Outlaw for refusing to help the colonization of the satellites, which was a necessity for all human adults. Others followed his example and set out, ignoring Earth law. This is how the Outlaws were formed. This man with red hair had many children with many wives; his offspring had the same red hair. In all he had twelve sons and eight daughters. The youngest daughter, strangely, was born with violet hair. She did not follow his ways. She spent much of her time meditating, speaking to unseen forces, forces that her father had heard and ignored for years. When asked about the voices, the Outlaw replied that they were his parents. Realizing the importance of his parents' voyage, he set out to Earth to find more information about the data left behind. All he found were locked doors and unwilling faces. He died without finding an answer.

You see, the data that the Earth-space Government (as it was called then) had recovered from the ship was instantly labeled as a key. No one knew to what it was a key, or where the key could be used or how. They just knew it as a key. The woman, a dark-haired beauty, was thought impossible to clone correctly. The DNA was incomplete. The man, born with light blue hair, was also incomplete, but not as altered as the woman. The DNA strands were shelved.

By now, the red-haired Outlaw's youngest daughter had heard the voices around her. At thirty years of age, she set off on a voyage to find their origin, and came back years later with an incredible power. She taught it to her all of her siblings save her older brother, who was the youngest of her siblings. Her seven sisters found that they could control the very life of the planet with ease. The eleven brothers had similar powers, but found more difficulty in their progress. When her second-oldest brother harnessed these powers to his liking, he used them to his advantage. He attacked colonies, seeking power. He killed thousands. It took all eighteen of his skilled siblings to bring him down. The people of the Earth and Sylgri nations were frightened of the powers of the eighteen and banished them into desolate space.

After centuries, their descendants, called "Priests" returned to Earth to offer apologies, and to demonstrate their newly controlled powers. They offered to help the new interstellar government with their powers. Cults rose, worshipping them. When things got out of hand, the government again banished some. These normal humans who had developed ways of praying for Priest magic were labeled Pirates. Different sects emerged and a war began, with the Priests in the center of controversy.

Many were killed as saviors and saints in the name of God. Others hid, searching for new Mana. Some chose sides on the war and were slain on he battlefield or made heroes in intelligence. After three decades of warfare, the Pirates were forced to permanently retreat. The Earth would never be seen by Pirate eyes again… or at least that was the plan. The Priests were few and the Mana was becoming depleted. Casters were developed. Hope was lost.

And still the DNA information sat on a shelf.

The Pirate sect known as Kei were deeply religious. They were taught all along of their heritage – how one couple had left Earth-space to create their God. They knew that there was DNA code in storage. They knew it was incomplete. They sought for the remainder of the DNA, and when they found it at a shrine of a dead civilization, they used it to their advantage. They sold the male DNA to an Earth-housed billionaire named Jacob MacDougall, the grandfather of mercenary Outlaw Ronald MacDougall.

I'm sure you can guess the rest. Harry, Melfina, Ark, Hadul, Urt, Gene, April, … they are all simply players in destiny, carved from the mind of an unknown race. Their story is not over yet. Not at all…

**__**

INTO THE FIRE

"April's with Gene?!?" Eldred shouted across the mess hall at Leilong. "How in the hell did _she_ end up in the middle of this?!?"

Leilong raised a hand in a gesture of assurance. "Calm down," he said gruffly. "She asked me for the job."

"Job?!?" Eldred shouted. "There wouldna been a 'job' if it weren't for _you_."

"I tried to stop her," Leilong assured him. "Once I explained to her what had happened to you, she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."

Eldred smiled despite his anger. "Sounds like April, all right," he chuckled. "I'm sure you could've stopped her."

"I could've," Leilong offered. "But I needed help and she was the only one on my side.

"You should've come to us first," Jim said with his chin leaning on his hand, slowly stirring a broth on the stovetop. "We could've prevented this all from happening."

Leilong shook his head. "I thought of that," he said. "If Gene had gotten wind that the MacDougalls were in town, he would've jumped in there head first and gotten killed by Eldred or Harry."

Eldred smiled, nodding, but checked himself, catching a quick glance from Leilong.

Aisha nodded as she cut celery stalks into thin slices. "That sounds like Gene, all right," she said.

"I guess you're right," Jim said.

"I _know_ I'm right," Leilong said.

The pot bubbled and scorched Jim's hand. "Ouch!" he shouted before shoving his fingers in his mouth. "I wish Melfina was here," he said around his fingers.

"Me too," Aisha said, sucking on a cut thumb.

OUTLAW STAR

The _Shangri-La_ dropped from sub-ether in a desolate, systemless part of the galaxy.

"Current position?" Ron asked.

"We're just a little further from Calim Spaceport than we can jump in one full sub-ether trip," Harry reported. "Ether engines charging to an amount sufficient to bring us halfway there. We can charge the rest there."

Leo leaned back with his head resting on his open palms, stretching his arms. yawn "Do I have enough time to get a little rest?" he asked.

"You should," Harry said. "I'm going back to check in on Melfina, anyway."

Leo stood up, stretching and yawning again as Harry slid out of sight in the tank. Ron strummed his metallic fingers on the armrest beside him. As Harry emerged from a platform beside the tank, he flexed his arms, letting the pilot pass beside him into the narrow passage that led back.

Harry often found himself marveling at how strong he was in actuality when he appeared so small and weak. He knew he was special. He looked up at Ron. "Why is my hair blue, Ron?" he asked.

"Genetics, brother," Ron said, half-looking back over his shoulder. "You of all people oughtta know that."

"No," Harry said. "That's not what I mean. I know what in me makes my hair grow blue and also how rare it is to have blue hair." He paused. "Who in our family had blue hair?"

"I don't know," Ron said. "I'm not the one to ask. You should've asked Father."

Harry's eyes glinted with curiosity. "What was Dad like?" he asked.

Ron turned in his seat to face his brother. "He was a great man," he said assuringly. "He was tall and lean and rugged just like his father and brother and myself."

Harry was intrigued at this. "Why am I not the same?"

Ron stood up and approached Harry. "Probability, brother," he said, firmly holding Harry's shoulders. "Chances and luck."

Harry was quiet and made a point not to make eye contact as his eyes slowly teared up. "Why could I open the door at the Galactic Leyline?" he asked. "It was dense and sturdy stone." Ron began to walk away. "It's almost like the Leyline wanted me, just as it wanted Melfina."

Ron stood with his back turned, looking downward with his arms crossed. "I don't know about all that," he said quietly.

Harry stepped forward. "Why don't I remember Father?" he asked, not letting the tears fall from his eyes. "I was twelve when he died! Why don't I remember?!?"

"An accident," Ron replied. "You were badly injured and became deathly ill. The doctors said you wouldn't survive. When you recovered, you were an infant again. I had to raise you." He turned. "That's why you don't rem-"

Harry was gone.

OUTLAW STAR

"Get up," the voice said.

Gene rolled over. "Are we there yet?"

"No. Get up."

Gene came to his feet in the darkness, accidentally standing in his empty food tray. His eyes adjusted to what could be considered dim light. "How nice," he said. "They've lit our path for us, honey."

Silence…

"Where's April?" Gene asked. The shadowy figure in front of him began to move forward.

_I guess she's that way._ He moved forward in pace with the figure.

"So, what do the Kei pirates do for fun?" he asked, getting no response. "You guys have a softball league?"

OUTLAW STAR

"Melfina," Harry called into a dark room. "May I come in, Melfina?"

There was only silence as an answer.

Panicked, Harry flipped on a light. "Melfina?"

She lay flat on a bed with her eyes shut tight. Harry moved to her side and ran his fingers through her bangs. He drew his mouth close to her ear. "Melfina," he whispered. "Wake up. It's your knight come to grant your every wish."

She didn't move. Harry stood straight, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

_Melfina?_

He lifted her arm and let it fall back to the bed with a lifeless thud.

_Someone turned her off!_ he thought. He looked down at her. _She did this to herself?!?_ He looked back up, unblinking, realizing why. _She doesn't love me the way she loves Gene._

He turned and left the room, turning the light out and shutting the door behind him.

A single teardrop had fallen on Melfina's palm. The cuff of her sleeve had been torn before Harry walked in.

OUTLAW STAR

"You will go and buy yourselves food," the dark Tao master pirate said. "You may also buy heavier clothing if you wish. Here is a thousand Won."

Gene accepted the money. "Why aren't you going?" he asked.

"The conditions of being who I am," the pirate returned. "I am powerful so they allow me docking privileges, but if I enter the market the paying customers run in fear."

"And that makes a difference to you?" Gene said. "You could wipe this place out and take over with just a little of your Tao magic!"

"Power does not always breed ruthlessness," the pirate said. "If you return soon we will be able to leave soon. If you decide you'd rather stay I will let the station's ruthless security deal with you."

"You wanted us safe," April said. "You said we had to be intact on delivery."

"What I do not witness I cannot stop."

April and Gene looked at each other with identical "what's-with-this-guy" looks.

"Go now and return quickly," the pirate commanded. "There are others following us that wish to injure you."

He gave them an invisible shove down his ramp.

Gene glanced back but the pirate had gone. "I'll bet you a thousand Won I can get that guy to laugh."

"I'll give you two thousand to shut up," April said, quickening her pace to leave Gene behind.

"That was cold," Gene said. "I thought you liked me."

April smiled, but Gene didn't see it.

They made their way across the spacedock and through a pair of doors. Instantly, they were in the midst of the marketplace.

"Eww…" April whined. "This place smells weird."

"I've smelled weirder," Gene said, stepping toward a new yellow cloak that caught his eye.

"Yeah," April said with a short giggle. "You do smell pretty weird."

Gene stopped, making a face. "That's not what I meant," he said, then turned to face her. "I mean, I've smelled –"

He stopped, looking off into the distance. The back of someone's head had caught his attention. The violet-gray hair had been shaved into an odd zigzag pattern on his upper neck. There was a tattoo on his neck.

"Saiyo?" he whispered. "What is he doing here?"

April turned. "Who?" she asked.

"An old friend," Gene breathed.

A large Sylgrian stepped forward. "Howdy, y'all," he said, holding forward a large book. "Have you been visited by the lord almighty? Has he shown you the path to your personal dreamland?"

"Look buddy, we're not interested in that shit right now," Gene spouted sharply. "Get out of my way!"

Gene pushed past the Sylgrian toward where Saiyo had been standing, but he was gone.

"Damn!" he yelled. "He's gone!"

The Sylgrian pushed Gene to the ground. "Just who do you think y'are, human?" he shouted in his Sylgrian drawl. "Do I offend you by denouncin' your beliefs?"

Gene was startled. _An aggressive Sylgrian? What the hell?!?_ He had always been used to Sylgrians being pacifistic and submissive. "Listen, buddy," he said, standing up and moving away from the stronger creature, "you've got the wrong idea. I don't _have_ any beliefs. I believe what I can see. I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Sorry?!?" the Sylgrian yelled. "Sorry?!? I'll _make_ you sorry!" He raised his feathery fist.

Gene, unarmed, did the only thing he could. He ran. He ducked through he crowd of merchants, shoppers, solicitors, and thieves, weaving his way from one vendor to the next. The brute Sylgrian shoved through the crowd, throwing the weaker people aside in his pursuit. He pounced on Gene and sank his fist into Gene's gut. Gene curled up into a ball, trying not to vomit as the Sylgrian raised his fist again.

The quick whine of an electropistol cut through the disorder. The Sylgrian froze.

"Charlie, I should've killed you when I had the chance!" a woman's voice rang through the large colony street.

Charlie, the Sylgrian, stood up as quickly as he could. "Dang it all, the Angel Links!" he breathed in despair, turning to run. A blue flash shot into his shoulder, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

_Angel Links?_ Gene thought, still in the fetal position. _Thank God for that…_ He chuckled at his choice of words.

A tall figure approached Charlie and stood over him. "Chased you all the way from Oracia," she said, "but it was worth it." She turned to face Gene, but he couldn't see her face with the light behind her. "Gene Starwind," she stated surprisedly. "I never thought I'd see that face again."

Gene sat up. "Nice to see you, too, Valeria," he said. "How'd the repairs on the _String 4_ come along?"

"Quite well thanks to our Saurians," Valeria said, helping Gene to his feet. "Duuz can really make a difference when he wants to." She stood eye to blue eye with Gene, her blonde hair surrounding her narrow face.

"How is old Lizard-Breath?" Gene asked, smirking. He glanced around. "Is he here with you?"

"Back at the ship," Valeria replied with a nod to the docks.

April stepped up as Valeria cuffed Charlie. "Who's your friend?" she asked Gene.

"The name's Valeria," Valeria answered for Gene. "I'm the commanding officer of the _String 4_, one of the front-running Security Forces Airship under the Angel Links group. I met your red-haired friend here a little more than a year ago. He saved our lives." She nodded to two men standing in the crowd and they promptly carried Charlie away. "I owe him one."

"You owe me a little more than _one_," Gene said, stepping toward Valeria. He put his mouth near her ear and whispered _"Although I do have something I'd like to ask."_

She gave him a shove. "What are you suggesting?!?" she breathed back coldly.

Gene put up his hands in innocence. "No, no, no," he said. "That's not what I mean!" A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. He quickly regained his composure. "I need a messenger," he said calmly. "I'm currently being kidnapped and I'm pretty sure I'm safe for now. I think my friends are following me. Just tell them I'm safe and that they don't need to worry." He leaned in a little further. "Tell them not to do anything stupid."

Valeria was confused and it showed. "If you're being kidnapped, why don't you just ask me to kill the kidnappers or tow their ship?"

"Because you can't," Gene said. "He's indestructible. I figured I'd do what he wants and maybe I'll walk away with my life once he gives me to his weaker friend."

"I see," Valeria said. She took a step back. "You can count on us, Gene Starwind," she said. "She leaned forward again, whispering: "About what I thought you were asking about – we can talk later, okay?"

Gene, shocked, took a step back defensively. "What?!?" he demanded.

Valeria turned and walked away, trying her hardest not to laugh out loud.

April stepped forward. "What was that about?" she asked. After a pause, she furrowed her brow. "Are you sweating?" she asked.

Gene loosened his collar. Clearing his throat, he said: "We've got some shopping to do," and walked away.

OUTLAW STAR

Leilong sat alone in the captain's chair, relaxing with his eyes shut. _Is this really the right thing?_ he asked himself. _I owed it to Eldred to save him since he didn't kill me back in the Anten, but why am I saving Gene again? I spared his life once. Why again? I don't owe it to him. He owes me! But April…_ He opened his eyes. _What happened to you, Leilong?_ _You're getting soft. You should quit while you're still alive. This crew is perfectly able to do this themselves!_ He closed his eyes again forcefully, obviously angered by himself. _And why do you care about HER so –_

"What are you thinking?" Gilliam asked.

Leilong opened his eyes again. "Nothing," he said. "I was just trying to sleep."

"Now, Leilong," Gilliam said. "I know you're lying. You were frowning about something…"

Leilong smiled. "You're smart," he said, "for a computer."

"Hey!" Gilliam shouted. "I take offense from that statement. Computers are much smarter than humans!"

Leilong laughed. "You can only learn what you are programmed to be able to learn," he said.

"I can learn ten times as much as your brain has the capacity for learning," Gilliam stated.

"Oh yeah?" Leilong said. "Up yours!"

There was a pause.

"My what?"

OUTLAW STAR

The brute Sylgrian Charlie lay on a bed in his cell aboard the _Uleili_, a _String 4_ grappler vessel. Two human officers and the dino-like Duuz stood outside the cell.

"Hideki," Duuz said, "prepare the engines for departure."

Hideki, the short, stout, Asian mechanic, was confused. "Valeria said we were to wait for the _Outlaw Star_," he said in his gruff voice.

"I am aware of your current orders," Duuz bellowed. "I am giving you new ones!"

Hideki saluted and left the room.

"Jayce," Duuz said to the hulking, brown-haired guard. "Watch our fine feathered friend here. Make sure he's hurting when he wakes up."

"That's against policy," Valeria said, entering the room. "Charlie will be left unharmed and we will remain here at Calim until the _Outlaw Star_ arrives."

"That Quillscrub shot me last week!" Duuz shouted. "He deserves the same pain!"

"It is _against_ policy to harm a prisoner after arrest!" Valeria reprimanded him. "You would be facing court-martial!" She stood so close to him they could feel each others' breath. "And _never_ use that word in my presence! I will not allow prejudice in _my_ ship!"

Duuz bowed his head. "Yes, ma'am," he said defeatedly.

Valeria sighed. "Whatever happened to the days we actually enjoyed working together?" she whispered, looking away from the Saurian. She stepped back and straightened her jacket. "The undesignated pirate ship has left with its guests onboard," she said. "We stay here until the _Outlaw Star_ arrives." She turned and left, passing Hideki in the hall as she went. "Get some sleep," she said to him.

He saluted and slowly walked down the adjacent hall toward his bed, reminiscing about the better times he'd experienced as an Angel Link: training, meeting Jayce on his first day as a real mechanic, and the first day he spent under Valeria's command. Back then, she and Duuz were true friends, but now…

_I wish those two could live together in peace_, he thought. _Always fighting. Always _–

He was stopped short by an alarm. He turned and ran for the bridge.

"Hideki, Jayce," came Valeria's voice over the intercom, "get to the bridge!"

_I already am…_ he thought.

Upon arriving, he saw a large, sleek, yellow grappler as close to the _Uleili_ as a ship could be. A man with long, dark, curly hair was on one of the viewscreens.

"I'm not playing games," the man was saying. "I simply need to know where the pirate ship went. Surely, you know."

"Listen, Ron MacDougall!" Valeria said. "The only thing you're getting out of this meeting is an arrest!"

Ron smiled. "Fine," he said. "Have it your way!"

The screen cut to black just as Jayce entered the bridge. A metallic pound shook the ship as the grappler arms of the yellow ship were planted into the _Uleili_'s belly. Hideki found his way to the tactical station as Jayce eased into the grappler control chair.

"These bastards do not want to challenge me!" Jayce yelled. "'Cause I'm a _badass_ who don't take no shit offa nobody!"

"Shut up," Duuz commanded.

Jayce bared his teeth in a tremendous grin. "Yes sir!!!" he shouted back. As if controlling a video game, he put all of his effort into massively damaging the yellow ship as quickly as possible, not caring about his own damage. Blow after blow landed, scratching and denting the thick yellow bulkhead. Even with only half the arms of the yellow ship, the _Uleili_ was doing twice the damage.

Duuz was proud.

Valeria wasn't. "We can hit harder than this, Jayce!" she yelled. Turning to Hideki, she asked "Where are the _Shangri-La_'s weak points?"

Hideki pushed a single button that ran a split-second scan on the MacDougall vessel. On the three-dimensional display, different colors appeared, signifying thin or damaged bulkhead. "The hull inside the grappler arm holds are made of a weaker metal than the rest of the ship," he reported.

"Jayce," Valeria called.

"I'm on it!" Jayce reported as the ship careened away from its target. As he piloted back toward the _Shangri-La_'s left dorsal grappler arm, he noticed another difference. "They've got an older paint job in there too…" he said, almost to himself. He smirked lopsidedly. "Cheapos…" He pulled back the grappler arms.

Hideki's console flashed. "Jayce!" he shouted. "Watch out!"

Too late…

The arms crashed into the metal armpit of the _Shangri-La_ and sparks flew. The base of the arm exploded, jettisoning the arm itself. The grappling fingers of the _Uleili_ were completely destroyed. The ships shook, lost power, and slowly began to veer away from each other. The _Shangri-La_'s left dorsal grappler arm, intact, floated away into the cold depths of outer space.

The ships were dead.

So was Jayce.

OUTLAW STAR

"What the _HELL_ was _that_?!?" Ron MacDougall demanded, floating around on the bridge of the _Shangri-La_.

Leo had his hand on his bleeding forehead. A power station beside him sent up huge sparks, causing him to flinch. "I – I – I…" he stammered, his jaw quivering, "…I don't know…"

Ron turned around to see Harry floating near the broken Liquid Navigation tank. He maneuvered toward his brother's side, taking off his own cloak and placing it around Harry. Bleeding from his shard-filled abdomen, Harry opened his eyes.

"Sir, the ship is dead!" Leo barely managed to report in his shaky voice, hanging on to both the navigation console and his bloody scalp. "I can't get anything to respond."

Ron stood up and looked around. Everything was dark. The only light for visibility was that from Calim.

"Shit…" he breathed.

They were drifting straight for the Spaceport, with no way to stop.

Leo had just noticed their course as well. "_HOLY SHIT_!!!" he screamed, no longer too shaken up to speak clearly.

"We need to get to the ejection pod," Ron said, his unblinking eyes never leaving the spaceport until their rotation had sent it out of view. He turned. Harry was no longer on the bridge.

Ron's heart leapt. For the first time in his life, he knew what fear really was.

OUTLAW STAR

Duuz held the lifeless body of his black-bandana wearing, bodybuilding comerade on his shoulder as he pulled himself down the gravitiless, blackened hallways of the _Uleili_. Valeria and Hideki followed him, never speaking.

They floated into the E. E. P. (emergency ejection pod) one by one and buckled in. Using the internal power of the pod, Hideki shut the hatch and jettisoned it.

From the small porthole, Valeria could see the _Uleili_ as it drifted away. She noticed the cracks on the bridge's large viewport.

The glass of the viewport shattered and pieces of it and the rest of the bridge were expelled from the ship.

Valeria looked at Jayce, buckled in beside Duuz. The rag that she had used to stop the bleeding in his chest was deep red now, though the blood had undoubtedly stopped flowing. She closed her eyes. A tear rolled down her cheek. _It's been awhile since you cried, girl…_ she thought. She sniffled, and the tears kept coming.

Hideki wiped the tears from his own cheek. His only true friend… gone.

OUTLAW STAR

"Entering airspace of Calim Spaceport," Gilliam reported. "There are two ships damaged from battle here. They are not responding. One of them is the _Shangri-La_. It is on a path to crash into the spaceport's housing division."

The bridge became quiet.

"You could tell all of that _that_ quickly?" Eldred asked.

"Yes," Gilliam responded.

"I'm impressed," Eldred said.

"I'm flattered," Gilliam returned.

"I'm annoyed!" Leilong shouted at them. "Eldred, do something about the MacDougalls."

"But I wanted to watch them crash…" Eldred whined.

Leilong turned around it his seat and gave Eldred a very commanding glare.

"Yes sir," Eldred said, smiling. "I was gonna do it anyway."

Leilong returned to his original position in the chair.

"I just wanted to watch 'em squirm," Eldred said, smirking evilly.

Aisha and Suzuka looked at each other across the bridge. "I like this guy," Aisha said.

Suzuka smiled.

The _Outlaw Star_ moved in toward the plummeting ship.

_Sheesh…_ Jim thought. _Why do I always hafta be surrounded by people with overabundant hormones?_

OUTLAW STAR

"Harry?!?" Ron called through his shirt sleeve as he swam through the smoky hallways in the reardecks of the ship, waving a flashlight he had found in an emergency kit. "Harry if you're there, speak to me, buddy. Come on!"

He followed the floating blood trail to the forced-open door of Melfina's room. Inside, a fire burned bright red and orange. He grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and doused the flames in the immediate area. Melfina's bed was burned, but she was not on it.

Harry's blood was.

Ron squinted his watery, smoke- and heat-damaged eyes to see the far corner of the room. There lay the inanimate bodies of Harry and Melfina in a puddle of Harry's blood.

Ron smiled at his brother's naïveté. _Love conquers all… _he thought. He pulled a knife out of his boot-sheath and planted it into Harry's head. He quickly removed the small memory board from Harry's electronic brain. _Sorry, buddy…_ he thought. _I can only carry one of you out of here_. He pocketed the circuitry and picked Melfina up.

He made his way back through the smoke-filled room, noticing that the smoke had dissipated some. _There's a leak_, he decided. _Got another reason to hurry_. He used the hallway's waist-level trim to pull them to the ejection pod, where Leo was waiting, bandaging his own head.

They closed the pod and Leo pounded the button to jettison them out.

"_NO_!!!" Ron shouted.

Leo looked outside. He had just sent them on a path directly into the spaceport docks. "Oops."

"'Oops' doesn't get us out of this," Ron growled, buckling Melfina in. "Buckle up."

As the pod rotated, Leo frantically searched for the harness. He found it and braced himself. Looking outside, he could now see the ship, coming toward them. Then, he saw another ship, pushing the _Shangri-La_ away. "Leilong…" he whispered.

Ron looked at the ships. The _Outlaw Star_'s anchors were planted into the _Shangri-La_'s hull as the crew piloted it away from the port. "Welcome to Calim…" he muttered. "We were just rolling out the red carpet."

The light from the nearby star was eclipsed by a ship leaving the docks. The pod was headed straight for it.

OUTLAW STAR

Lord Ark Manaf, Twelfth Head Priest, sat handcuffed to the mechanic's chair of the unregistered Outlaw grappler ship owned by a Mr. Saiyo Wong. "I want some coffee," he said to the ship's purple-haired captain and pilot.

"Shut up!" Saiyo yelled.

An alarm sounded. Saiyo looked at the console in front of him.

"What is it?" Ark asked.

Saiyo tapped the console. He looked up through the viewport, just as the small escape pod skidded across the nose of the ship and barely missed hitting the glass.

Saiyo and Ark both flinched at the sight. Recovering, Saiyo growled. He piloted the ship around, extended the grappler arms, and grabbed the pod. He began opening the cargo hold.

"What are you doing?" Ark asked.

"This idiot will be our guest," Saiyo said. "With any luck, _he'll_ have a bounty too."

Ark frowned.

Saiyo placed the pod awkwardly into the hold and closed it, harboring the grappler arms. He started the engines.

"Aren't you going to see if they're okay?" Ark asked.

"After the jump to sub-ether," Saiyo said. He popped his neck. "Looks like there's a little action in the area," he said. "There's a coupla derelict craft and another one cleaning up." He punched a few buttons. His eyes widened. _The Outlaw Star???_ He regained his composure.

"Engines at full," the computer reported.

"Thanks, Nataka," Saiyo said, shaking off the odd feeling the sight of the ship had given him.

"My pleasure," Nataka, the computer, responded.

"Let's go," Saiyo said.

The unregistered Outlaw grappler slipped into sub-ether.

OUTLAW STAR

Gene paced the cell in the pitch blackness of the pirate ship. _Maybe I made the wrong decision_, he thought. _Maybe I shoulda told Valeria to have an Outlaw ship follow us and make sure things were okay when we got to wherever it is we're going_.

He leaned into the wall on his forehead. _All I can do now is hope for the best_, he thought, closing his eyes.

The ship swayed to the side and Gene lost his balance. He felt the gravity lessen and fell slowly to the cell floor. Lights turned on dimly and then went out again. The ship was smoothly running again; the gravity seemed normal again.

_What was that?_

"Are you uninjured?" came the pirate's voice over the intercom.

"I guess so," Gene said, sitting up and brushing himself off. "What happened?"

"We just passed through an unstable pocket of space," the pirate explained. "There was a type of radiation that was undetectable until we were already in it."

Gene nodded. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

There was only silence as a response.

"How many nice guys are there in the Kei pirates?" Gene asked.

"You mean 'how many of us have consciences'…" the pirate returned.

"Yeah," Gene said.

After a pause, the pirate returned with: "Just one."

Gene smiled. "Well, I couldn't've picked a nicer kidnapper," he said.

The pirate chuckled.

Gene's eyes went wide. He crawled over to the cell's bars at lightning speed. "April!" he called. "He laughed! April! I got him to laugh!!!"

Gene realized that there was no way she could hear him. He leaned against the bars, disappointed. "She'll never believe me, you know," he said, but the pirate had turned off the intercom.

Gene banged his head backwards onto a hard steel bar.

"_Oww…_"

OUTLAW STAR

"And then the ship just left," Jim said to Valeria. "We don't even know who was in the pod."

Valeria nodded, sipping on a cup of coffee. For the past hour, the pair had been sitting in a café on Calim talking. Jim had told Valeria everything that had happened since they last parted company. About the Caster shells at Tenrei, about Hazanko and the Leyline, about their close encounter with restaurant ownership, and about Eldred and April and the situation with the kidnappings.

Valeria nodded. "So you're gonna go save Gene and April from this Kei pirate scum, right?" she asked.

Jim tilted his head from side to side. "That depends on Leilong," he said. "He's in charge of this whole thing. He feels real responsible about letting Gene and April fall into the wrong hands." He leaned forward. "But just between you and me, I think he's hot for Melfina," he said. "He might decide to go after Ron and that ship."

A waitress arrived to fill their cups. While she was there, Jim and Valeria kept quiet. As soon as she left, Valeria decided to spill her part of the story.

"Gene doesn't want you guys entering pirate space," she said before blowing the steam off of her coffee.

Jim frowned. "Oh yeah?" he asked skeptically. "What makes you so sure of that?"

Valeria swallowed a mouthful. "Because he told me," she said, smiling.

Jim was astonished. "He _told_ you??? When did he get the chance to talk to _you_???"

Valeria explained her earlier encounter. The entire time, Jim sat unblinking, amazed that Gene had gone back with the pirate.

"He must be scared of that guy if he went back on his own free will," he said when she had finished.

"Actually, I don't think Gene thinks the pirate will attack if we tried to rescue them," Valeria said. "I'll bet anything he's just curious about the pirate's intentions. He said he didn't want anyone opposing the pirate, just in case, but I don't think that's his entire reasoning."

Jim nodded. After a short silence he looked up at Valeria. "Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"I suppose," she said. "What is it?"

"Why aren't you at your pilot's funeral right now?"

Valeria sighed as if she was about to cry. She pulled her lips into her mouth like people do when they feel like crying. "I, um…" she started. She looked away. "I just don't like funerals is all."

"Sorry," Jim said. "I didn't mean to make you sad. I was just curious."

"It's okay," Valeria said. "You have the right to ask questions." She took a breath and looked at him. "The answer is that I lost both my parents as a child. They had a joint funeral." She wiped her nose. "That was the day I found out I was adopted. After hearing that, I went up to the coffins. I heard my family arguing about 'who was gonna take care of Lita and Cedric's mistake'." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Now whenever I lose a soldier I wonder how their family will react and it makes me remember that day…"

Jim reached out and held her hand. "You don't hafta worry about all that," Jim said. "Maybe the mistake your family meant was your parents' debt. Maybe your soldiers that die will have families that are so proud of them that they don't grieve the death so much. Maybe the reason you cry is because you care, and that's definitely not a bad thing." He looked up at her, shaking her head, and frowned slightly. "You gotta remember one thing," he said. "You need a reason to be sad. You don't need a reason to be happy."

She sniffled and wiped her tears, smiling. "How old _are_ you?" she asked, then laughed. "Most people grow old and never get to be so wise as you."

Jim smiled.

"Thanks," Valeria said. She cleared her throat. "Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?" Jim asked, sitting back.

"Don't tell anybody about this," she said. "I'm supposed to be their fearless leader."

Jim smiled wider. "You can count on me!"

OUTLAW STAR

Leilong, Suzuka, Eldred, and Aisha were consulting with a traffic controller in the small hallway of Calim's operations tower.

"So that ship belonged to Saiyo Wong?" Leilong said. "That _creep_ has Melfina?"

Suzuka gave him a strange look. "You know Saiyo?" she asked.

Leilong looked her square in the eye, obviously angry. "That wretch killed a good friend of mine for a bounty," he said. "I made sure he got locked up for life after that."

Aisha pounced forward. "You're the one who put him in prison?" she griped. "We went through a lot to get him out!"

"You did what?!?" Leilong shouted, a vein in his forehead throbbing. He got into Aisha's face. "Do you have any idea just what Saiyo does to women?!?"

Eldred stepped forward. "Leilong," he whispered. "You don't know what you're talking about. Saiyo only kidnapped those women. The rest was just a ploy to keep him out of our hair."

Leilong looked over at him. "_What_?" he asked.

"Those two women were Kei spies," Eldred said. "He was employed by the Security Forces to find them and bring them in. Then Hazanko used you guys and several Outlaw governors to convict him of their rapes and Kimari's murder."

He pulled Leilong aside. "I hate to do this to you after so long," he whispered. He looked away, ready for the worst reaction possible from Leilong. "_Hazanko _killed Kimari."

Leilong did not appear angry or confused. He stood up straight and left the room silently, maintaining an emotionless stare.

Eldred looked back at the room of people. The controller had left. Duuz and Hideki had just arrived, after seeing their comrade given a proper funeral.

"What's going on?" Duuz asked him.

"Just a few skeletons," Eldred said. He turned and left, determined to explain to Leilong how he was deceived.

Duuz shrugged. He turned to Suzuka. "Did you find out much about the two vessels?"

"That new Outlaw vessel belonged to Saiyo Wong," she told him. "They won't talk to us about the pirate. It would appear that he had some special permission to dock without the usual security checks."

"That's not permission," Hideki voiced his opinion. "That's power." Seeing three pairs of eyes turn to him, he shied away. "I mean –" he started.

"No," Suzuka said. "I think you're right. Whoever this guy is, he has this entire station in his grasp, and I would be surprised if it stopped there."

"You think he's stronger than Hazanko?" Aisha asked.

Suzuka bit her lip, turned and left. Duuz and Hideki followed her, leaving Aisha alone in the hallway.

"Is that a 'yes'?" she called. She ran after them. "Suz, answer me!"

"Stop calling me that," Suzuka answered. "And yes, I have a feeling he's stronger than Hazanko."

OUTLAW STAR

A day of sub-ether travel had brought Gene, April, and the pirate to their destination.

"You are guests here, and so you will act," the shadowy pirate informed the pair of red-haired prisoners on the exit ramp of his ship. "You will be treated with respect. You will not be bound, because there is nowhere to which you can run. I am to transport you to Captain Lunn. You will not disappoint him."

"Yeah, yeah," Gene said, waving off the comments. "Piss on the newspaper and not the good master's carpet, we hear ya."

After a long pause, the pirate made his way down the ramp. April followed closely behind. Gene shrugged and followed, quickly catching up to April. "I made him laugh yesterday," he told her.

April smiled wryly. "Yeah…" she said sarcastically. "I'm sure…"

"I did!" Gene shouted defensively. "I told him I wouldn't have chosen a ni-"

"Be quiet," the pirate said. "Part of the respect you must show is only speaking when you are spoken to by a member of the Kei ranks."

Gene tightly sealed his lips jokingly.

They made their way across the large metal landing pad. Gene looked around him. They were on a planet now. The sky was orange and hazy. The sun was a deep red, but was larger in the sky than any he had ever seen before. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The temperature was decently cool, considering their close proximity to the sun. As far as he could see, metal buildings and vehicles cluttered the landscape. It was like a darker version of Earth.

They made their way into the building connected to the small elevated, landing pad. The hallways were decorated in very similar colors to the outside – shades of metallic orange and red, with golden trim. Large ornate decorations hung on the walls at odd intervals – depictions of a red-haired child at the helm of a spacecraft, storyboards of many people following a red-haired man into the uncharted reaches of space, cult symbols, and a blueprint of their holy capital.

Gene cleared his throat. "Where are we?" he asked silently.

"This is the personal residence of Captain Lunn," the pirate said, stopping at a large double-doors. Without moving he caused a knocking sound to emanate from the door.

"Come in," came a voice from inside. The doors swung open. "Is it Mr. Wong or –"

The trio stepped into the large den. Lavish decorations, all in shades of red and orange, cluttered the large room, making it feel so much more cramped than it actually was. A man with silver hair sat on the couch.

"Oh," he said. "It's you."

"Mr. Wong?" Gene asked. "Sai-"

"Quiet," the dark Tao master commanded.

The silver-haired man was obviously disfigured. Long bangs covered the entire right side of his face. His mouth was tight on the right side with scar tissue. The right nostril of his long nose was torn, but healed, and had a small nick still missing from it. His right eye was… not there… Instead of an eye socket, he had a smooth steel plate under his skin, which had been treated to heal flat over the plate. The skin there was pierced. A single dragonite stud shone clear, right where his pupil may have been. Gene and April could not see all of his face. His ear – if it was there – was hidden by the shiny silver hair, which was swept all to that side of his head. The left side of his face was blemish-free and showed that he had been an incredibly handsome man before the disfigurement. He smiled lopsidedly. His crystal-blue iris shone with astonishment as he stood up.

"I have brought two," the pirate said to Lunn. "One man and one woman."

Lunn was shaking with happiness. "I never thought I'd see another human with hair so red," he said in his clear, melodic voice. "But _two_!" He reached out to touch April's hair but she pulled it back. He smiled. "Don't worry!" he assured her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I want us to be friends!"

He moved over to Gene and shook his hand. "It's an honor to be in your presence," he said.

"You know who I am?" Gene asked.

Lunn smiled and threw his hands into the air. "Of course I do!" he shouted. "You are the man with red hair that has come to aid in Kei prophecy!"

Gene frowned. "Really?" he asked. "That's kinda cool I guess…" he said, showing disappointment at the fact that Lunn hadn't really recognized him.

Lunn laughed.

The pirate turned to face him. "I will be going now," he said. "I assume my debt is repayed?"

Lunn smiled. "Of course," he said. "Now I owe you again. I'd gladly jump in front of another chemical explosion for you if I wasn't so sure you've learned to handle it yourself." He smiled, extending his hand.

The pirate turned and left, never to be seen of or heard from by our heroes again.

"Well," Lunn said, turning to Gene. "Let's get down to business."

OUTLAW STAR

Two Calim guards pulled the barely-breathing body of Charlie the Sylgrian across the deck of the internal landing pad toward the infirmary. Valeria, Leilong, Duuz, Suzuka, Jim, Eldred, Hideki, Aisha, and Gilliam (in his pink capsule) rested on some crates as repairs were made to the _Outlaw Star_ nearby. The _Shangri-La_ and _Uleili_ were both parked nearby. Massive repairs were needed for both ships, so Calim would be their home for quite some time.

"Almost forgot about him…" Valeria said.

"Kinda feel sorry for the guy," Hideki said.

"I don't," Duuz said. If Saurians could smile, Duuz would have been. In his mind, Charlie got what he deserved.

"What's up with that guy, anyway?" Jim asked.

"He's bipolar," Valeria replied. "One minute he's a Bible-toting Sylgrian trying to improve other people's lives, the next he's a vindictive, kleptomaniacal aggressor with a chip on his shoulders the size of Jupiter."

"What's gonna happen to him?" Aisha inquired.

Valeria frowned. "I'm not sure," she said. "He is wanted for multiple accounts of abuse, assault, and evading justice." She paused. "But there's no proof that he has killed anyone yet, so he will probably end up in a mental hospital somewhere near Oracia."

Aisha nodded.

"What about us?" Eldred piped up. "What are we gonna do?"

"We follow Saiyo," Leilong said. "The Angel Links will stay here."

Valeria put her hand in the air as if waving away Leilong's words. "On whose jurisdiction?" she asked, hypothetically. "We have just as much an interest in this situation as you do, _and WE_ get paid to do it." She put the hand down, gesturing to herself. "It's _our_ job."

Leilong put his finger in the air. "It's _your_ job to escort your prisoner to a law office in the Oracia system," he said.

"Charlie can stay here," Valeria said. "He needs medical attention that we cannot give." She gestured toward her ship. "And look at _Uleili_! Does it look like we're gonna be able to leave the station for home anytime soon?"

There was a pause.

"I want to go," Hideki said. "I can help you guys find your friend."

They looked at him. Leilong gave the idea serious thought. "But the eight of us all in _Outlaw Star_? We can't all fit."

"Yes you can," Gilliam said. "We have enough food to last the eight of you and Melfina twenty-three days plus one breakfast. There may only be five bunks, but I require a minimum of three people on the bridge at all times during a mission such as this. If you all know how to share, it should be no problem."

The group looked around, contemplating the situation.

Leilong was about to give it his approval, when a noise came from behind.

"Over here!" someone shouted. "He's still alive!"

They all looked over to the swarm of emergency service technicians.

"He's breathing!" someone else yelled.

Leilong jumped to his feet and ran over to see who they were talking about.

"He's got a gash in his head," the first voice said. "There's so much blood…"

"How is he still alive?" a third person asked.

"I don't know," the first voice said. "It's a miracle."

"No it isn't," the second voice said. "Look at this!"

Leilong had made his way to the front of the crowd. The breathing body of Harry MacDougall, bathed in blood, lay on the cold steel floor. There was a dagger-wound in his head and shards of a thick glass in his abdomen. The second voice, an elderly technician with a white goatee, had peeled back some of Harry's scalp, revealing the metallic skull.

"He's a construct," the old man said.

Leilong kneeled beside Harry, gazing into the unresponsive eyes. He reached toward the body.

"What are you doing?" said the first voice, a burly, bearded, middle-aged man.

"He's dead," Leilong replied. "Someone removed his personality board." He felt around on the interior side of Harry's collarbone for a button. He pressed it and the body stopped breathing.

On the other side of the docking bay, Aisha sat patiently, listening to the technicians and Leilong from a distance. "It's Harry," she said to the group.

Jim bowed his head. "I wonder if Melfina is alright," he said silently.

Aisha put an arm around his shoulders. "Of course she is, kid," she assured him. "We'll get her."

Jim looked up and gave a forced smile. "You think?"

Leilong walked back into the group, wiping Harry's blood on a rag that the old man had given him. "Wherever Ron MacDougall is, he has Harry's brain with him," he said. "Someone removed his personality/memory board."

The group all nodded or made similar gestures of acknowledgement.

"We need to go soon," Valeria said. "Let's all get ready for departure so we can leave when repairs are finished."

Hideki, Suzuka, Eldred, and Jim stood up to start moving.

"Excuse me?" someone called. "Commander Valeria?" An elegant young blonde woman in a business suit stepped up. "That kind young Sylgrian is ready to be switched to your custody."

"Kind!" Duuz bellowed. "Ha!"

Valeria smiled at Duuz. "Can you hold onto him for now?" she asked politely. "We have something rather important to do. We can take him with us when repairs on our ship are finished or the Forces send another team."

The woman smiled. "I'm sorry," she said. "That just isn't possible. Our lock-ups are overcrowded. Since he's your prisoner, we insist that you take him. There's no way around it, ma'am. I have my orders."

Valeria looked at Duuz, then at Leilong. "That makes nine of us," she said. Both Duuz and Leilong made as if to protest, but she spoke again. "There's no way around it, guys. I have _my_ orders!"

Duuz and Leilong shut their mouths.

Valeria and the others walked away, leaving behind the two protestors and Gilliam.

"Oh dear," Gilliam said. "With the dietary habits of an adult male Sylgrian, our rations may only last fourteen days!"

OUTLAW STAR

Gene stared at the tapestry hanging in front of him, wide-eyed. "How is this possible?" he asked, bewildered.

"You are a child of prophesy," Lunn replied, placing his hand on Gene's shoulder.

Gene looked at two other tapestries hanging to his right. Pointing at the one next to the first, he said. "That's…"

"April, I know," Lunn said.

Gene looked at the third picture. "Who's the kid?" he asked.

"I'm sure you'll figure that out soon," he said, smiling.

Gene was entirely astonished.

Lunn patted Gene on the back. "I'll leave you alone to think about what this all means," he said. He turned and walked out of the tapestry-filled room, shutting the door behind him. April, who had been standing near the door in shock, walked over to Gene and rested against him as a sign of emotional support.

"How is this possible?" Gene repeated. For the first time in his life, Gene Starwind did not have an explanation for something.

The first tapestry was him, in the E. E. P. of his father's trade vessel when he was younger, banging on the glass viewport to try and convince his father to come with him.

The second tapestry was Gene and April, holding each other on a strange land, brilliant fireworks shooting from their bodies into distant planets.

The third was of a young, red-haired boy. It was not Gene. In his hand, an awesome light shone. Behind him was the city of San Francisco, laid to waste.

TO

BE

CONTINUED!

_Hello, all. I am Lord Ark Manaf, Twelfth Head… never mind… It seems that Saiyo's OTHER prisoners are a little feistier than I. Needless to say, they get us into a little more trouble than we asked for, but at least now I don't have to go to the Kei pirate capital! Be prepared for a lot of adventure, and I'm the HERO… on the next installment of Outlaw Star, titled "Shipyard, Graveyard, Killing Yard"!!! You'd better get ready!_


	3. Shipyard, Graveyard, Killing Yard

__

You ever notice how sometimes the minor characters can be left behind? Sometimes the characters with the most potential are the ones that are never around. I thought that Ark, Saiyo, Leo, Leilong, Duuz, and Valeria were awesome characters, which is why I decided to do so much with them in my stories. You all are probably wondering what happened to Fred Lou… well, due to a mistake on my part, he's not even in the first four chapters! But, don't worry, I will definitely work him into future adventures! Be prepared for EVERY Outlaw Star minor character to make an appearance before I'm through.

Somebody mentioned that it was hard to keep up with my new characters, so I'll take this time to give you profiles of them – April, Eldred, the Pirate, Hideki, Charlie, and Lunn. Then I'll tell you some things you might not know about the main characters.

April Khan – daughter of Malak Khan and niece of the irrepressible Gwen Khan. Raised in Gwen's Heifong laboratory after the loss of her parents, April was taught to know everything about her uncle's work. She fell in love with Eldred, Gwen's most advanced artificial being. When Gwen was taken into Kei custody to work on the Leyline project, April and Eldred were taken in as part of Lord Hazanko's Anten group, comprised of the dozen strongest Tao magicians under his command. Even though Eldred and April couldn't perform the Tao arts, they were very valuable. April was a genius by anyone's standards. They used her for two things – to know a lot, and to keep her uncle in check. Eldred and Leilong assisted in her escape. She found her way to Sentinel, where she started work in an upper-crust bar, waiting for word from her love… Instead, she found Leilong, and a promise of Eldred's return.

Eldred – creation of Gwen Khan. Eldred is the single most advanced constructed life-form in the known universe(well, maybe the SECOND most advanced). He can change his form by triggering genes or changing tissue mass, which allows him to be an effective tool in both espionage and combat. When Gwen was employed by Hazanko, Eldred and April were taken in as the thirteenth and fourteenth members of the Anten group. Even though Eldred and April couldn't perform the Tao arts, they were very valuable to Hazanko. Eldred could retain a seemingly infinite amount of knowledge, including combat tactics and tactical intelligence. He fell in love with April and decided to free her from the Kei pirates, with the help of his comrade Leilong. When Hazanko found out what events led up to April's escape, he decided to shorten the number of members in the Anten ranks to seven. Five of the pirates were instantly demoted, and Leilong and Eldred were pitted against each other in a fight to the death. Eldred, immortal, did not want to kill Leilong, so he whispered into Leilong's ear about his "kill-switch". Leilong turned him off and jettisoned him into space, where he was picked up by scavenging Outlaws. The Outlaws sold him to the MacDougalls, who repaired him and disconnected his personality and memory cards…

The Pirate – He was just another prodigal Tao student growing up. I cannot disclose his name – he is powerful enough to jump out of the text and kill me for it… his power knows no limit now. When he was still young and learning, he and a friend were sent in to patch a hole in a scientist's chemical tank. Things went awry and the tank exploded. His friend jumped in front of the explosion, saving him from the fire. The pirate went on to become the most powerful of the Tao magicians; he could end a life with a thought; he could change history with a prayer; he will never die. He will always remember the act of his friend, Lunn. He owes Lunn everything and has vowed that as long as he lives, so will Lunn…

Hideki Oda – born and raised in the Tokyo area to two agriculturally dependant parents. He was raised to take over his family's farm, but dreamt of more. Every night, he rested outside under the stars, watching the dozens of ships leave the many Tokyo spaceports, hoping that one day he would be on them. His parents recognized his dreams and let him join the Security Forces as a mechanic-in-training shortly following his eighteenth birthday. Two years and one friend later, Hideki was stationed on the String 4 vessel of the Angel Links group in the Oracia system…

Charlie – hoo boy – this is gonna be hard… there aren't many words that can describe Charlie's… uniqueness… He was the first Sylgrian to be banished from their home system. He was also the first Sylgrian in their recorded history to attack anyone unprovoked, due to his bipolar nature. He has a problem with authority; he has stolen from every station he has stopped at, attacked members of the Angel Links group on several occasions, and though he has never actually killed anyone, he is one of the most wanted felons in Angel Link territory… He also likes spicy foods.

Treno Lunn – born a Kei pirate. His parents forced him into Tao magic training, and he became obsessed with the history of the strange art. One day, he was assigned to help a fellow student clean up after a laboratory accident, and accidentally caused a chemical explosion of dynamic proportions. Seeing it as his own fault, he jumped in front of his friend to save him from burning. Lunn survived, but spent months in and out of infirmaries before deciding that he would much better appreciate an executive job than a Tao one. He used his command position to acquire rare pirate artifacts for personal exhibition, still adamant in his pursuit of ancient magical powers…

There were a couple of things that I tried to explain in chapter two, although I didn't actually come out and say it plainly, so here goes… Gene Starwind, Ark Manaf, Hadul, Urt, and April Khan are descendants of the red-haired child returned from space. The young couple that went into space were recreated in Harry MacDougall and Melfina, although Melfina is not identical – not a clone. Leilong has feelings for Melfina. Harry is beginning to doubt what he was told was his "lineage". Ron turned Melfina off, in fear that she knew her and Harry's origin, to keep Harry from finding the truth. He knows the truth. Saiyo has kidnapped Ark and is bringing him to Lunn. Harry's body is still functional, but needs the memory board that Ron possesses in order to function. Aisha thinks that Eldred is "cute".

With all that in mind, here is chapter three of my self-insertion fan fiction, entitled:

****

SHIPYARD, GRAVEYARD, KILLING YARD

Saiyo Wong checked the systems of his unnamed vessel quickly, and stood up.

"Nataka, I'm going to check on our guest in the cargo hold," he said. "Watch our friend here, okay?"

"Affirmative," the computer responded.

"Can't I go with you?" Ark asked. "I could help you if he starts something."

Saiyo sneered at Ark. "You think I trust you enough to do that?" he asked.

Ark closed his eyes. "Fine," he said, obviously concentrating hard. In a flash of black, red, and white energy, the handcuffs snapped apart.

Saiyo flinched, half-stepping backwards. Astonished, he breathed: "How…," his lip quivering.

Ark stood, rubbing his wrists. "Why do you think I am a wanted man?" he asked. "You are bringing me to your employer not because I have orange hair, but because I am a powerful priest in the ways of mana."

Saiyo, still astonished, stood up, not knowing what to think… _Rumors… even if… extinct… possible?…_

"I could've done that when you first tried to capture me," Ark said, "but you amused me, so I played along." He smiled wide and stepped toward his baffled captor. "Do you trust me now?" Not receiving a response, he made his way to the exit. "Don't we have a prisoner to harass?"

He was gone. Saiyo attempted to regain composure and hurried out of the room.

"Humans…" Nataka mumbled.

OUTLAW STAR

"This _is_ my mission, Leilong," Valeria said. "I am in command here." She made herself comfortable in Gene's chair.

Leilong sat in one of the other seats, grumbling incomprehensibly.

Valeria smiled.

"I've calculated the estimated flight path of Wong's vessel," Eldred reported from the liquid navigation tank. "All systems are green. Permission to engage sub-ether drive?"

Valeria looked down at the ship's young mechanic. "Do we have the okay from Calim yet, Jim?" she asked.

Jim gave a thumbs-up, pencil in mouth as he ran a diagnostic on the resiliency of the new tractor anchors.

"Gilliam?" Valeria asked.

"Yes," Gilliam answered.

"Tell the others we are about to go to sub-ether," she told him.

"Gladly," Gilliam said. After a pause, he said: "They have been properly informed."

"Go ahead and depart," Valeria told Eldred.

"Aye aye, sir," Eldred said. "Ma'am… whatever…"

Valeria smiled. The ship kicked into sub ether. Leilong toppled out of his seat, but after the G-forces stabilized, he stood up.

"Leilong," Valeria said.

Leilong made a wry face, knowing what she was about to say.

"Make sure you're buckled in before we depart," she said, smiling widely.

Eldred laughed loudly and emphatically, then stopped abruptly, catching a glimpse of Leilong's angered expression.

Leilong left the cockpit without responding, and smiled as soon as he knew no one was looking. He shook his head and chuckled. He climbed toward the below-decks, which had a different direction of gravity as the cockpit. As he felt the gravity begin to pull him in a different direction, he got slightly nauseous – one of the unpleasantries of space-travel. He saw Hideki and Suzuka unbuckling their restraints. Aisha was nowhere to be seen. Duuz, standing, was watching Charlie closely, waiting for an opportunity to kill him.

"I wish y'all would stop lookin' at me like that," Charlie said, trying not to look at Duuz. "it's unsettlin' on the nerves."

Leilong frowned. "This is the relentless criminal?" he asked.

"Hey!" Charlie shouted. "I resent that!"

Duuz looked down at Charlie, eyes flashing.

Charlie flinched. Speaking more softly, he continued: "I got problems, I know. Sometimes I do bad thangs and don't realize it for awhile. I wish I could git some help so I stop hurting people. It's not exactly a hoot and a holler being the bad guy…"

"You say that now…" Duuz said. "If I turn my back, you'll stab me!"

Charlie waved his feathered hands in protest. "No, don't think that," he said assuringly. "I don't wantcha to think I cain't do no good. I want to help." He paused, lowering his head. "But I _do_ understand your fears," he said. "I _can_ be that way. It's uncontrollable, really."

"I know what you mean!" Aisha said loudly as she stepped out of the bathroom. "I'm that way too!" She sat down next to Charlie and began talking more quietly and seriously. "But it's expected out of me because I'm a Ctarl-Ctarl. People know I'm gonna be high maintenance. The reason why people are so scared of you is because you're different than other Sylgrians. They don't know what to think."

Charlie looked at her. "You don't understand," he said. "I don't hurt people because of an abundance of hormones. I do it 'cause I lose control. I'm not me when I do those thangs. I'm some vi'lent criminal that injures nice people without no reason." He looked back down at his feet. "So I'm _not_ the same as you."

Aisha acted like she was thinking about what he had just said for about two seconds, then stood up hastily and announced: "I'm gonna go flirt with Eldred!" She made her way to the tunnel to the cockpit.

"She's a weird one," Hideki said.

"She's the right age for the mood swings," Suzuka said.

"Mood swings?" Leilong asked. "Do we want to know what you mean by that?"

Suzuka appeared thoughtful for a moment, wondering how to phrase her explanation. "Female Ctarl-Ctarl all go through a point in their life when they are at their…" she paused, thinking again, "…sexual prime. I've noticed that she's been less violent and more reserved lately. She's been very thoughtful and straightforward… which is… very… weird – to say the least. I think she's actually starting to think about settling down."

"With Eldred?" Leilong asked. "Is that even possible?"

"Theoretically, yes," Hideki said. "Eldred told me he's just as real as any man, and the Ctarl-Ctarl are very closely related to Humans… closer than donkeys are to horses or lions are to tigers."

Everyone gave Hideki a weird look. He blushed. "Um… genetics was something I was forced into learning as a child," he explained.

Leilong shook his head. "Wait 'til she finds out he's already spoken for," he said.

"I think she already knows," Suzuka replied. "This _is_ Aisha we're talking about. She probably doesn't care"

OUTLAW STAR

Saiyo, Ark, and Leo stood next to the empty pod in a corner of the vessel's cargo hold. Ron and Melfina lay on the floor beside them. Ron has hit his head on the pod wall because of a poorly designed seatbelt and had fallen unconscious.

"How long 'til he comes around?" Leo said, still nursing his own injured head.

"Hard to tell," Saiyo said. "It doesn't look too bad."

Leo looked down at his boss. "He's gonna try to take over the ship when he wakes up," he said. "You might want to tie him up or lash him down."

Ark looked into Leo's eyes, still focused on Ron. They seemed distant, like for the first time in his life, Leo was hearing a thing called a conscience. Leo shifted his gaze to Melfina and frowned.

"You said she wasn't hurt," Ark said to Leo. "What's wrong with her, then?"  
"She's a construct," Saiyo answered for Leo, "an artificial being. I've seen her like this before… I remember that there were words to wake her up…"

"Ron used some words to disable her," Leo said. "He told me not to tell Harry…"

"Harry?" Ark inquired.

Leo nodded. "Ron's little brother," he said. He leaned over and reached into Ron's inside pocket. He pulled out a computer memory board. "This is Harry," he said. "What's left of him, at least."

Ark and Saiyo looked at each other – both of them seemed to have questioning looks in their eyes. Saiyo took the board from Leo. "I'll hold onto that," he said. He placed it into his pocket before reaching down to lift Ron up. "One of you grab his feet," he said. "the other, get the girl."

Leo picked up Melfina and wiped some of the dust and smoke off of her cloak as the other two carried Ron off toward the ship's single lock-up room. His face seemed to be locked in a permanent frown as he carried her away from the lashed-down pod. _Am I really involved in this?_ he asked himself. _How did I get to be a fugitive, anyway?_ He stopped. _Do I even want to keep living this way?_ He shook his head and walked away.

The ship veered. All the electronics flickered briefly. Even the gravity changed. The ship came to a halt before things returned to normal.

"What the hell?" Leo said, barely audible. He had managed to maintain his balance. He heard Saiyo shout from the corridor. He ran to catch up with the others, but only Ark and Ron were there. An emergency light was blinking red on the wall beside the door that Ark was opening. The door revealed an E. E. P. Ark pulled Ron inside and fastened him in as Leo ran in.

"What's going on?" he asked, setting Melfina into one of the six seats.

"I don't know," Ark responded. "We have to hurry." He closed the hatch. "We're falling toward a planet." He pointed to a nearby window, through which a green-and-blue planet with clouds and mountain ranges could be seen.

They were close enough that Leo could now see little dots all over the land formations. Trees had been scraped away and in some places burnt. _That's gonna be US here in a second_, he thought. He turned to Ark. "What about… the other guy? Saiyo?!?" he shouted.

Ark sat down. "He's trying to save the ship," he said, obviously shaking as he reached for his restraints. "We have to leave now." He strapped himself in. Leo sat down and did the same. Ark shattered the glass concealing the ejection button and pressed it. They were jettisoned into space once again. The porthole lit with orange fire immediately. "We're in the atmosphere already!" Ark yelled, sticking his head between his knees. "We weren't fast enough! We're going to _DIIIIIIE_!!!!!"

Leo looked across at the delirious priest, then at Ron, who seemed to be coming to. He looked over to Melfina's lifeless form. He held her hand, not for her sake but for his. He closed his eyes.

"If by some miracle you survive this," Ark babbled, "go to the planet Tenrei and tell Urt I love her!"

Leo seemed distant. He looked out the porthole and could see out well enough to see the ship falling parallel to the pod. It seemed to be flattening its descent, but was still falling too quickly. It seemed to gain some control as it pulled away, now flying at more of an angle appropriate for a crash landing. It pulled away, slowly at first, then more quickly.

Ark was crying. Ron was blinking. Leo was squeezing Melifina's hand, a blank expression on his face. A bead of sweat rolled from his forehead to his mouth. He shut his eyes again.

They struck the planet sharply but with some give. Leo could hear water boiling on the surface of the pod as it cooled down. The whole area vibrated as the ship also struck the Earth.

Ark began laughing. "Hahahahahahaha… I'm alive?" he looked up, grinning.

Leo opened one eye. Outside, he could see that they were falling deeper into the water. He unbuckled himself, Melfina, and Ron. Ron was holding his head, groaning.

"We need to get out of this pod," Leo said, shouldering Melfina. He tried to force open the hatch with his shoulder. "We should be able to open this and let the rising air carry us to the surface."

Ark unbuckled. Ron shook his head to try to clear his vision. Ark took one of Ron's arms and helped him to his feet.

Leo kicked the hatch's handle. "It's melted shut!" he shouted.

Ark pushed him aside and fired a bolt of magic at the handle and two more at the hinges. His eyes widened at the intensity of the blasts. _How did I get so good at blast spells all of a sudden?_ He asked himself, looking at his hand. "Push it again," he said, shaking off the odd feeling. Leo kicked out at the hatch and at once it flew off and away from the pod. The hatch opening rotated to the top as the air began to escape. Leo and Ark held their breath and kicked out of the pod, carrying their comrades to the surface.

Leo wiped his eyes and looked around. He pointed to the coast, less than a kilometer away. Ark and Leo began swimming slowly, trying not to tire easily. Neither one of them had been faced with any kind of distance swimming.

Panting, Leo asked Ark a question. "Can't you just fly us out of here?" he asked.

Ark, panting also, had an answer. "Only Lord Momora could control the modern time's weak mana enough to fly," he said, "and he's dead now."

"Sorry I asked," Leo said, holding on to Melfina, keeping her head above the surface.

"Where are we?" Ron asked weakly.

"Just hold on, Ron," Leo said across to him. "We'll be on the shore soon so you can get your strength back."

Ron closed his eyes and focused on keeping his head above water as Ark helped him toward the shore.

"Why did you get to carry the lighter, prettier one?" Ark asked between breaths.

Leo smiled. "I called it first. I had dibs."

Ark frowned. "Well then, I guess it's fair…"

Leo chuckled.

_I couldn't swim this well before…_ Ark thought.

OUTLAW STAR

The cockpit of the unregistered grappler vessel was in shambles. Saiyo lay half under a pile of debris. Nearby, sparks scattered across the mess as fires spread toward him. He took slow, labored breaths, knowing that one or both of his legs was broken in two.

An undamaged console blinked and beeped. "Saiyo?" Nataka's voice came. "Are you alright?"

Saiyo's ribs were pinned down, making it impossible for him to speak.

Nataka's only functioning camera zoomed in on Saiyo's pained face. "I will help you, sir," he said. A small, waist-high door started to open, but malfunctioned and got stuck. A robotic, four-fingered hand grabbed at the door from the inside and pushed it open. A short, skeletal robot hopped down from the compartment and began to clear away the debris. The console flickered again. The robot looked at the console as it died. It turned toward Saiyo again and stated: "It appears as though the ship has completely lost power, sir," in Nataka's voice. Truly, this was still Nataka, or a portable version of him. Without a part resembling a head, Nataka spoke through a speaker in what could be called his chest. A simple bendable backbone and fully motile arms and legs were all he really needed to function. His chest and hips contained the key components of his being, from memory boards and protocol chips to power cells and sensory equipment, all hidden under a protective layer of steel. He dug into the debris, carefully pulling the heavier pieces off of his fallen companion.

Saiyo managed to roll over when all of the debris was off of him. He breathed painfully as Nataka looked him over, scanning him for injuries with a type of x-ray vision.

"I will have to set your leg," Nataka said, "but there is not much I can do for your ribs or collarbone."

Saiyo nodded, wincing in pain still. Nataka placed his hands on Saiyo's leg and snapped the bone back into place.

Saiyo screamed.

OUTLAW STAR

"What was that?" Ron asked, laying on the beach next to Ark and Leo.

"Sounds like Saiyo survived," Ark said.

"Maybe that was him dying," Leo said, then coughing, he turned his head toward Melfina. "Ron," he said. "How do you turn Melfina back on?" He looked over at Ron. "It would be so much easier if she could walk beside us instead of us needing to carry her." He gently touched his wound, which was starting to heal but had become raw due to the salt water.

Ron rolled on to his side, thinking it over.

"What planet is this?" Ark asked.

"Saiyo would know," Leo said in response. "Let's get to him after we rest up a bit."

Ron stood up and swooned. Holding his head, he made his way to Melfina's side. He knelt, whispered in her ear, and fell to the ground, clenching his eyes shut, in obvious pain.

Melfina blinked and sat up. She looked around. "Where am I?" she asked Leo.

"We don't know," Leo told her. "We were attacked by the Angel Links and then ended up in Saiyo Wong's ship, which just now crashed into this planet."

"It looks as if the sun is about to set," Melfina observed. "Where is Saiyo?"

"He stayed with the ship, the fool…" Ron said. Melfina looked at him. He coughed and turned to her. "I'm sorry about turning you off," he said. "It was for Harry's sake."

"I think I understand," she said thoughtfully. "Where is Harry?" she asked him. "Is he alright?"

Ron reached into his pocket. "His body died, but I managed to save his memory board," he said. He looked into his pocket. "Where is he?"

"With Saiyo," Leo said, pointing out into the forest where the ship had crashed. "At the time, he thought it was safest with him."

"We need to get to Saiyo!" Melfina stated. "Let's go." She started to stand, but Ron held onto her cloak, keeping her from standing.

"We all need to rest," he said, then pointed to his headwound, "and heal. It can wait until morning." Seeing the desperate look in Melfina's eyes, he assured her: "I want to find him too, but we need to rest now, Melfina. We can't bring him back until we get to his reserve body in Blue Heaven."

Melfina eased down to lay on the sand between Leo and Ron. The sun sank lower in the sky in the distance. She shut her eyes and tried to rest… at first, without luck.

OUTLAW STAR

Saiyo hopped around on his good leg, using a makeshift crutch to keep his balance. It pained his ribs and collarbone to use the crutch, but it was the only way to get away from the smoldering vessel. Nataka walked in front, making sure that Saiyo had a clear, even path to follow toward what he suspected was a safe resting spot. They trudged along for nearly an hour.

"I thought that the sun was about to set," Saiyo said, sitting on a fallen tree to rest for a short time, looking up toward the mostly brightened sky.

Nataka climbed a tree with a few swift pounces. "It would appear that we are on a stationary satellite, caught between the gravities of two revolving stars," he called down. "We are experiencing both a sunrise and a sunset right now." He jumped off of the limb, landing on the soft dirt next to Saiyo with a dusty thud. "This is the Rigonna system," he said. "Unexplored, unsettled… no one wanted to live on a planet without night. Also, it is rather hard to control space travel in and out of such a complicated gravity field."

"That would explain why we crashed," Saiyo commented.

"Not exactly," Nataka said. "We experienced an anomaly that wasn't in any way related to the gravity fields. I don't know what actually brought us here."

Saiyo nodded. He then frowned. "Wouldn't the constant sunlight destroy all this plant life?" he asked.

"No," Nataka replied. "The suns are far enough away from the planet that it rarely reaches thirty-seven degrees here, even here at the equator, and there is more than enough wind and precipitation to compensate. It's reported to snow on the polar mountaintops."

"Well, I don't understand any of that," Saiyo said. "So I'll just smile and nod now."

He smiled and nodded.

Nataka stood silently.

Saiyo breathed out a short laugh and carefully laid back on the fallen tree trunk he was leaning on. "This place is so similar to ancient Earth…" he said, yawning, then wincing in pain after stretching his leg the wrong way, "before we destroyed it with machines."

Nataka walked away. "I will look for edible plant life while you rest, sir," he said.

"Thank you," Saiyo replied.

Nataka disappeared into the forest. Saiyo stretched and looked around. He tried his hardest not to think about the pain. A chirp came from the shrubs beside him. "Nataka?!?" he whispered at the shrub. "Is that you?"

The shrub growled; the leaves parted; Saiyo cried out in alarm.

In a clearing several tens of meters away, Nataka dropped a handful of fruit and ran back to where he had left Saiyo. All that remained was a small spot of blood that dripped from the fallen tree… and the metallic crutch.

He searched around, looking for clues. His heat vision detected blood on a leaf nearby. More blood was on nearby leaves, leaving a trail. He ran off, following the trail.

_I'm coming, sir…_

OUTLAW STAR

Melfina opened her eyes. Ron, Leo, and Ark were sitting nearby, looking at the sunrise.

_I slept?_

They were whispering, trying not to wake her.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked.

Ron turned around. "Less than an hour," he said. "The sun came up just as soon as it set." He smiled. "We're in a two-star system," he said, flipping a smooth, thin stone in his hand. He smiled. "Very unique." He tossed the stone into the tideless water, still thirty feet away. He walked slowly to where she was siting and sat beside her, still wincing a little in pain. "We can't sleep all that well."

Leo walked up to her. "We can go find Saiyo and Harry now, if you'd like," he said, smiling, extending his hand to help her to her feet.

She accepted his hand and stood. She took a step toward the edge of the woods and was surprised to hear another scream.

"Saiyo?" Ark said, almost to himself. He jogged to Melfina's side.

Ron walked by them and entered the forest. Leo stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans and followed him, glancing at Melfina as he went. Melfina followed him closely as Ark hesitantly took the rear.

"I don't know about this…" he whispered before stepping over a tropical tree root and disappearing into the foliage.

OUTLAW STAR

"So he shot you down?" Jim asked Aisha, who was laying in her bunk. The two of them were the only ones around in the resting area.

"I don't want to talk about it," Aisha said, rolling over on to her side, facing away from Jim.

"You do realize that he's only here because he's lookin' for his _girlfriend_, doncha?" Jim asked, putting his hand on the curtain that concealed the small bunk.

"I know…" Aisha said softly.

"Then why even try?" Jim asked.

"_That_ I _don't_ know," Aisha stated plainly.

Jim looked at her thoughtfully and began closing the curtain. "Sleep tight," he said.

"Thanks," she said to him.

OUTLAW STAR

"Well, what was I supposed to say?" Eldred asked.

"I'm not exactly sure," Leilong said, "but I'm fairly certain that 'Not interested' wasn't it."

Duuz, Suzuka, and Hideki were on the bridge, leaving Valeria, Leilong, and Charlie to comfort Eldred.

"I would've said a little more than just that," Charlie said. "Like 'I'll hafta ask my girlfriend' or 'Now's not a good time', or _something_."

Eldred shook his head. "She looked like she was about to cry," he said. "I feel so bad…" He looked up at Leilong. "But I was kinda _exposed_ at the time. It sucks that you hafta be naked to fly this thing." He punched the wall.

"Ouch," Gilliam's voice was heard.

Everyone looked around.

"Where is he?" Leilong asked.

"I am everywhere," Gilliam said.

"Kinda unsettlin'," Charlie said.

"Last time I take a dump in here…" Eldred said, eyes wide.

OUTLAW STAR

"Saiyo!" Nataka shouted loudly and clearly. "Sir, can you hear me?"

Running twice as fast as any natural-born human, he still could not catch up to Saiyo and whatever had carried him off. He dodged trees and leapt over bushes, following the dwindling blood trail, now barely visible on the leaves around him. Ahead of him, the light seemed brighter and the trees fewer… he approached a clearing, hoping to see sign of Saiyo.

He stopped at the edge of the trees…

…And looked straight down into a volcano.

A drop of Saiyo's blood dripped from a leaf to Nataka's immediate right.

OUTLAW STAR

"Saiyo!" Melfina called, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Ark stepped up beside her at the foot of the rubble of the never-named Outlaw vessel. "Saiyooooohh!!" he yelled, trying his best to project his voice.

"Saiyo Wong!" Leo yelled on the other side of the clearing.

"Just how many 'Saiyos' do you think there are on this planet?" Ron asked him, looking at a broken piece of wood. He stood up. "This way!" he called to the others and disappeared into the greenery. Melfina jogged to follow him. Leo, scratching his head, went third. Ark, once again in the rear, bent to look at the piece of wood Ron had just been holding.

It was covered in blood.

Ark shivered. Feeling watched, he turned around. No one there… He smiled. _And I was worried…_ He dropped the piece of wood and turned toward the path the others had taken.

He didn't have time to scream.

The creature was twelve feet tall and muscular. It's scaly skin reminded Ark vaguely of a the salamanka, a red, alligator-like beast that inhabited the volcanic regions of Tenrei. It's face, however, wasn't reptilian, but _very_ simian in appearance. If not for the red scales, the face could pass for that of an ugly human. It's burly legs bent backward rather than forward, and ended in three large-clawed toes arranged like a tripod. It had a tail extending form its _neck_ that was fat and long, waving in the rear, keeping balance as it leaned forward. Its arms were long and thin in comparison to its legs and had huge bladed bones jutting from its wrists. Its four, long, thin fingers were curled at first, but in what seemed to Ark like less than no time at all, they were wrapped around his face.

He struggled to breath, and to pull the hand from his face, but in his confusion he lost strength and quickly passed out.

OUTLAW STAR

Melfina turned around. "What was that noise?" she asked, drawing her arms close in fright.

Ron looked to the sky, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Leo stepped forward. "Ark?" he called back into the jungle, peering between the trees. He stepped forward again. "You okay back there?" He put his hand on Melfina's shoulder. "Ark?"

_BLAM!_

While Leo was shouting, a gun fired behind him. He and Melfina both spun around. The caster staff, which had been incorporated in the design of Ron's hand, was smoking from the barrel in Ron's palm.

"What happened?" Leo asked him, an obvious air of bewilderment on his tongue.

Ron began turning his head to look at Leo, but before he could fully turn, he was snatched up by something large and blood-red, running bullet-fast. The force and velocity of the grab alone caused him to bend at the waist and buckle forward. Drops of blood flew from the wound in his head as he disappeared into the jungle.

Leo stepped forward to see where the creature had disappeared to. Melfina moved with him. They didn't even notice it approaching them from behind, with Ark on one shoulder and Ron on the other. It grabbed them by the scruff of their collars and began moving away. Leo felt his body banging against the tree trunks and roots as he was dragged behind it at an incredible velocity. For what seemed like miles he was dragged along this way. He fell unconscious.

The monster stopped abruptly, sniffing the air and cocking his head from side to side. He looked up, and with wide eyes he dropped Leo and Melfina and ran away.

Melfina sat up, putting a hand to a gash in her cheek. She looked around. She didn't know in which direction the creature had left. She looked at Leo, blood now flowing dangerously from the wound in his head. A roar filled the air from above. The small clearing lit up and became hot. She looked straight up and her pupils constricted, as she was now staring into the engines of a vessel, slowly landing.

A short, shiny figure jumped out of the bushes in front of her, running at her at full speed. It grabbed her arm and Leo's in one swift motion and leapt into the green jungle, carrying them with it. Lying in the foliage, they were blasted with intense heat. There was a rumble. The light grew dimmer. There was a thud. The light was gone.

Melfina sat up again, turning toward Leo. The waist-tall robot was bandaging Leo's head with what was left of his shirt. Melfina blinked, stunned, waiting to recover from the abruptness of what had just happened.

"They went over here!" a young person's voice called to someone. "Gilliam said they went due West and that they aren't too far from the clearing!"

Footsteps crunched the leaves and brush nearby. The robot stood and moved in front of Melfina protectively.

A small, gloved hand parted the tall grass and a face poked into their hiding spot. The boy's eyes grew wide. He turned around and called back: "Over here! It's Melfina!"

Melfina climbed over Nataka and embraced Jim Hawking. "Jim!" she said, smiling widely.

Suzuka and Aisha stepped up, smiling but concerned. Leilong pushed Suzuka out of his way and, seeing Melfina, smiled. Valeria stepped around him, looking at Nataka, then at Leo.

"We should seek shelter in your vessel," Nataka said.

Something howled in the distance.

OUTLAW STAR

"…And that's when you showed up," Nataka said. "That is all that my memory has recorded since we departed from Calim."

Valeria was sitting at a table in a small recreation area in the _Outlaw Star_. Nataka stood on a chair opposite her. Leilong stood nearby. The rest of the crew, sans Leo, stood or lounged in other areas of the room.

Valeria nodded. "That kind of explains the anomaly that we experienced coming in," she said. She frowned. "What happened to Ron and Ark, then?" she asked.

"The thing that took them must have been the same thing that took Saiyo," Melfina said, a distant look in her eyes.

All eyes were on her.

"I didn't see it, really," she went on. "I saw something that was large, red, and fast – running on two legs."

"Fast is right," Jim said. "Once we realized that there was something down there, we were tracking it, and it was off radar again less than two seconds after dropping you and that pilot."

"'_That pilot_' has a name," Leo said from the doorway, adjusting the gauze on his forehead delicately.

Nataka turned. "You should not be standing, sir," he said.

Leo waved it off. "It's nothing," he said. "Just a scratch, really. I'm a fast healer."

"No you aren't," Eldred said. "Watch this!" He pulled a dagger out of his pocket, turned it in, and made as to plunge it into his chest. Duuz's hand shot out and grabbed Eldred by the wrist, slowing the dagger's descent.

"Not now," Duuz said.

Eldred dropped the dagger as Duuz let go of his hand. "Aww…" he said. "You guys never let me have any fun!"

"You're different than I remember you," Melfina said.

Eldred scooted down the bench they were on, to her side. "I know," he said. "I'm much sexier." He smiled widely.

He scooted away just as quickly as he came, no longer smiling.

"That's not _exaactly_ the word for it," Melfina said.

Eldred's head sunk sadly.

Nataka hopped off of the chair and pushed Leo out of the room.

"What?" Leo asked. "I'm better, I swear!"

Valeria looked around. "We got what we came for," she said. "Do we save the others?"

"Of _course_ we do!" Aisha shouted. "Those are three eligible bachelors out there!"

OUTLAW STAR

Ron MacDougall searched around on the dark, hot cell floor. He didn't know where he was, but he knew he was a prisoner… and he wanted out. Palms down, he scanned the dusty volcanic rock floor for an exit. His hand hit something rubbery. He felt it.

_A boot…_

The boot was connected to a leg, and the leg was connected to a person.

_Leo?_

He felt for a pulse, but didn't find one. He put his hands on the man's face.

_Too old, too many scars… is this Saiyo Wong?_

A light bulb burned in his brain. He felt around in Saiyo's jacket pocket… and found what he was looking for.

_Harry. This is good. I still need you, buddy. You're not done yet._

He pocketed the memory board and felt around some more… the floor around Saiyo's other leg was covered in blood. Ron wiped the blood from his hands onto Saiyo's clothes and went on. Just a few meters away was a wall. Ron stood up and began moving along the wall. The darkness seemed to fade.

_My eyes are adjusting_, he thought. Then it got dark again.

Ron stopped and turned around, realizing he had seen his own shadow when it was briefly light. There was a very dim spot of light burning in the distance. Ron made his way toward it. He could hear shallow breathing.

"MacDougall?" a voice whispered. The light grew brighter again, illuminating the room. Ark Manaf sat up. His hand glowed, illuminating the large room.

Ron looked around. There was no door to speak of, just a round, empty room.

"I'm suddenly finding it hard to breathe," Ark said, standing up.

Ron remained cool, collected, and aggressive in the presence of danger and witnesses. On the inside, he was finding it hard to breathe too…

OUTLAW STAR  
  
Leilong checked his pistol.

Duuz shouldered a blaster cannon.

Aisha stretched her legs.

Suzuka tapped a newly tempered sword on her palm.

Eldred cracked his neck, then his fingers. Wincing in pain, he shook his hand for relief.

Charlie picked up a cutting tool. Receiving a sharp glance from Duuz, he gently set it back down.

Nataka stood perfectly still.

Jim pressed a button, and the wall they were all facing began unfolding into a ramp. The other seven strolled down the ramp when it had stopped unfolding, Duuz taking up the rear.

Hideki moved to Jim's side. "I get left behind because I'm the fat one," he said plainly. "What's your excuse?"

"I'm thirteen!" Jim replied.

Hideki nodded. "That'll do it," he said.

Duuz stepped off the ramp. Jim pressed the button again. "I hate being left behind," he said plainly.

Valeria, who had quietly snuck into the room, placed her hand on his head. "You're not being left behind," she told him. "Think of this as 'operations'. Everything they do, we can see. We have the real control."

"That's what I always tell myself," Gilliam said from an unseen speaker.

OUTLAW STAR

As the door closed behind them, Eldred turned to face the others.

"I know we all think we're hot stuff," he said, "but I don't think we should fight over authority issues. What I was thinkin' is we let Squat Bot here lead us to where Saiyo disappeared." He gestured to Nataka. "Nobody's in charge," he said, throwing his hands into the air, "but you can count on me to lead you the right direction or tell you what to do, when need be." He gave a thumbs-up with one hand and gestured for Nataka to take the lead with the other.

Aisha smiled. She was the only one to show any sort of emotion.

Nataka stepped forward and Eldred followed closely behind. The others slowly found it in them to follow him.

"I wish he'd stop acting like he's better than us," Suzuka said.

Aisha put her fists against her hips. "He's just joking," she said, "and if you don't appreciate his superior sense of humor, then maybe he _is_ better than you!" She stuck her tongue out and thumbed her nose as she caught up with Eldred. Standing beside him, she walked proud.

"Actually, Aisha," he said softly, "I _am_ better than _all_ of you in nearly _every_ way. I just use humor to make it _look_ like a bluff, like I'm not _really_ as conceited as I am." He quickened his pace. "You just fell for it." Turning around, he smiled. "By the way," he said, "I think you're _very_ attractive, and if I wasn't already involved with April, I would've been _all over_ you back on the bridge."

Aisha's confused expression quickly turned into a smile. "I _KNEW_ IT!" she yelled.

Eldred was smiling, walking alongside Nataka. "That was easy," he said.

After a slight pause, Nataka spoke. "You should know that Ctarl-Ctarl ears can hear anything you say from that distance," he reported, "so you might want to watch what you say."

Eldred smiled. "Do you think she'll hear this?" he asked. He leaned over and whispered as quietly as he could directly into Nataka's resonance sensor.

Aisha, twenty feet back, stopped as her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. The four others passed her by as she stayed, unmoving.

"Aisha, honey!" Eldred called. "Nobody finds out I said that, okay?"

Aisha stumbled forward, jaw hanging open still.

"I'll take that as a yes," Eldred said. He looked sown at Nataka.

"It has already been erased from my memory," Nataka said. "All I remember is that it was rather crude."

"A little more than _rather_," Aisha grumbled crossing her arms.

OUTLAW STAR

Ark and Ron felt around the walls of the now lit room, trying to figure out how they got in. The lifeless body of Saiyo Wong lay near the center of the room.

_I can't believe this_, Ark thought. _I play around with some harebrained scheme and end up getting trapped in a rather hot room with an arrogant oaf of a mortal. I need to start thinking ahead more._ His hands brushed along the wall, looking for any crease or pocket that might open a hidden door. "I'm not finding anything!" he sang across to Ron.

"Stay cool and I'll get you out of here," Ron said. "We had to get in somehow, and we're going to find a way out."

Ark sighed impatiently as he looked over at Ron picking at a small crumble spot in the wall, remembering an old conversation he had had with Gene Starwind. As he slowly remembered the dialog, he let his hands lazily screen the wall.

_"So, all you have to do is defeat Lord Hazanko?" he said to Gene on their climb down the mountainside._

"Well it's a little more than just us and the Pirates," Gene said, chilled. "There's this MacDougall guy and his brother. We're pretty sure that Gwen Khan is with them, too, but I don't know for sure. But besides them, all we're gonna see are surprises."

"Meaning?" Ark asked.

"Well, if there's one thing I've learned from being a pirate, it's that there's always someone else that's gonna bump into you," Gene said. "Someone who wants your goal just as much as you do."

Ark nodded. "What about MacDougall?" he asked. "How big a problem is he?"

Gene shivered. "A big one, that's for sure," he said. "Besides priests, martial arts masters, pirates, cyborgs, and constructs, he's the strongest human out there." He smiled. "Except for yours truly, of course. Plus, he carries a Caster – something stronger than my gun." A look of seriousness and determination illuminated Gene's blue eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if I used two of these four shells on him. I know I'll use at least one, if we get into a duel." He looked away. "I wouldn't be surprised if he survived it."

"Survived MY Caster spell?" Ark laughed at the thought. "No mortal that ever lived could withstand even a close proximity to my Caster spell!"

"Yeah, well," Gene started, looking Ark in the eye, "the times are a-changin', my friend."

Seeing the serious nature of Gene's statement, Ark actually considered the idea of a normal human being able to withstand his spells. However unlikely he thought it might be, he knew it was possible.

"Ron's an evil man, too," Gene said. "He'll kill or destroy anything in his path to glory. He's already rich, but that's not enough. He wants infamy, and he'll betray everyone to get it, even his little brother, I think."

Ark stared out into the distant hot spring resort. A few visiting women were playing around in the shallow water near the close edge of the heated pool, some of them unclothed. He watched them as the trio decended.

"_OWWWW!!!!!_" he yelled, dancing around as his hand started to cool down. He had just burnt himself on the wall. He focused intensely and the wound healed entirely.

As Ron approached, Ark stared amazed at his hand. "But I never perfected the healing spell," he said. "How did I do that so quickly?"

Ron placed his single hand, palm-out, close to the wall. An intense heat emanated from a section of the wall that was about five feet wide and as high as he could reach. "This is how we got in," he said.

"They control the magma…" Ark whispered.

Ron nodded, stroking his chin. "This is our way out," he stated, loading a Caster shell into the hole in his hand. He ran to the middle of the room. "Stand back and get ready to run," he said to Ark.

"Wait," Ark protested, waving his arms. "You don't need to –"

Ron fired the Caster shell into the heated wall. Lava sprayed everywhere, but bounced off of an invisible barrier two feet in front of Ark. The door replaced itself in a matter of seconds.

"Like I was saying," Ark said angrily, approaching the wall. He placed an upturned palm in front of the wall and raised it slowly. The wall parted from the ground up, leaving plenty of room to walk through. Ark frowned at Ron. "I can control the magma as well," he said. "You don't live on the planet of Tenrei for as long as I have without learning a few tricks."

Ron glared angrily at Ark. He left the room and moved out into the now-lit corridor in front of him.

"You'd be nowhere without me," Ark said happily. "Just face it!"

As he left the room, it became dark inside. The "door" closed behind him.

"I don't need anyone," Ron said, wagging a finger at Ark, "and I can prove it."

He turned. In front of him was one of the creatures, smiling demonically. It grabbed him by the top of the head and slammed him into the wall. He fell to the floor in a heap.

Ark literally glowed with anger, his hair floating into the air as he felt the mana in him grow strong. He thrust his fist into the air in front of him, sending a glowing, red-hot spell toward the creature at the speed of light. It burned a hole right through its chest. In a smoky heap, the creature fell back onto its knees and toppled to the ground lifelessly.

From the shadows in the distant end of the hall, another light grew. A blast similar to Ark's came back at him. He shot his own at it, creating a large explosion. Through the smoke and flame, another creature charged him. In its sight, it seemed as though he blinked in and out of existence as he moved in for a deadly blow, quicker than perceivable by the eye of any living creature. He extended his arm, creating a spell-saw, with which he sliced the creature at the waist. Bringing his arm back for another blow, he decapitated the falling torso on its descent. The head rolled down the hall as the torso's shoulders landed on the floor with a thud. The legs fell forward. Three pieces of the creature lay strewn along the hall.

"The mana is so strong here," he whispered to himself. "Could this be…?"

Ron's body levitated from the floor under an unseen spell.

Ark Manaf had found what he had sought for so passionately in his youth.

_The promised land…_

The door opened again, and the body of Saiyo Wong levitated out. Ark placed his hands on Saiyo and Ron's chests.

_I hope this works_, he thought. The bodies glowed with a strange energy.

Saiyo Wong opened his eyes, taking in a breath.

OULAW STAR

Nataka pointed down the cliff face into the volcanic void.

Leilong leaned over the edge to see down. Eldred looked at the dried blood on the leaves in front of him and broke one off as a souvenir. Aisha got on her knees to see down the cliff.

"There's a hole down there," Aisha said. "I guess _that's_ where the bad guy took Saiyo."

Leilong checked the sturdiness of a vine and used it to lean out further. "Yeah," he said. "It's big enough, and I think I can see a guard from here… big ugly red thing."

"Should we go down?" Charlie asked, looking over Eldred's shoulder.

"I think the question is 'can we'," Suzuka replied. "It's straight down from here. There's no footholds or anything."

"Can humans withstand the heat?" Duuz asked. "It looks like it's too close to the lava. You weaklings would burn alive if you tried going down there!"

"Actually," Eldred said, "Aisha, Nataka, and I could do it easy enough, as long as we don't touch the lava itself." He looked down. "Unlike most constructs, I don't need my human parts to survive."

"How do you get your human parts back if they do get burnt off?" Aisha asked, still crouched by the edge.

Eldred forced the needle out of his fingertip. "Just like I took that chunk of skin off of your back," he said.

Aisha scowled. "Oh yeah!" she said vindictively. "I haven't forgiven you for that yet. It's a good thing for you that the Ctarl-Ctarl are fast healers!"

"Fast everything else, too…" Eldred mumbled.

Aisha stood up. "How would _you_ know? You didn't even give me a chance!"

Leilong looked back down the cliff face. The guard was gone. Aisha bolted to his side. "Did you hear something?" she asked him. She looked down. "Are they fighting down there?"

From deep below, sounds of struggle emanated. Human yells of anger and loud explosions echoed up the volcano wall. As the seven looked down at the opening, it was clear that something was going on. The guard, appearing from the mouth of the tunnel, scrambled up the wall as fast as he could. There was a great explosion leading out of the tunnel. Three figures cleared the opening as if being pushed by the blast. The guard still climbed the wall in fear and leapt over the heads of the ducking heroes in its escape. As for the three figures, they soared into the air and passed the heroes as they too fled.

"Ron," Suzuka said, "Saiyo, and Ark."

The three disappeared over the treetops.

Eldred stomped the ground with one foot. "Well, if I knew _that_ was gonna happen, I woulda suggested that we all just sit and wait in the ship!" he shouted. "Now we gotta walk _all the way back_… Jeez!"

"Or we could run," Charlie said, backing into Duuz in fear.

Eldred looked over the edge once more before turning and sprinting back the way they came.

More than a hundred of the creatures were streaming from the cave mouth and steadily moving up the volcano wall, using their blade-like claws to claw their way up.

Nataka leapt over Aisha and sped forward. Leilong and Charlie turned and gave it their best to run full-speed away. Suzuka grabbed Aisha and the pair ran away quickly.

Duuz tried his hardest, but wasn't nearly as fast as the others. Within the first fifty meters of his escape attempt, the first dozen creatures had caught up with him. He saw Suzuka and Leilong disappear into the darkened path ahead as he was pounced on from behind. The monster clawed at his chest as he rolled over, scratching his armor. He shouldered the blaster and blew its head off. Pulling himself to his feet, he ran again, but was flanked by two of the creatures. They smiled at each other and matched paces with him. In the blink of an eye, they both pounced sideways, only to smash into each other. Duuz had fallen back a step and with a jump he pushed against their falling bodies to project himself forward again. He looked around. Half of the creatures were in front of him now. He blasted away at some of the ones nearby, causing several others to run into their fallen comrades. He shot left, looked right, shot right, looked left, shot left, looked forward… and slowed to a stop. Seven of the creatures had created a barrier and were now inching toward him as the rest of the army passed him by. He took a step back and shouldered his cannon again. He blasted the center creature in the chest, killing it instantly. The others were not phased as they continued toward him. He stumbled backward, aiming again. The blaster shot weakly at one of the three on the right, barely injuring it with a shot to the belly. He pulled the trigger once more with no result – the blaster had run out of ammunition. He cast it aside and readied his fists, ready to die. The creature on the far left pounced and in a few strides was on him. He grabbed it by the shoulder and with a swift kick had it sprawling on the ground. He leapt onto it and snapped its spine slightly below the tail, killing it. He stood again to face the remaining five. They all quickened their pace and made to attack him at once.

Something blue leapt over their heads in a flash and pummeled into Duuz, carrying him away. Duuz could see that he was now being carried, and had a behind-view of the trail that his captor was following. They turned and entered the forest, ducking and weaving around the trees. Duuz could see the five creatures following them now, obviously accustomed to in-forest chase sequences like this. But, whatever had Duuz over its shoulder was faster than the creatures and quickly carried him to safety. After awhile, they were back on the trail and Leilong and Suzuka were in view again, but behind them. Suzuka slashed away at one of the swifter creatures that had managed to catch up with her as Leilong shot over his shoulder at the others approaching. The creature attacking Suzuka fell and was trampled by the others behind him. Duuz and Suzuka's eyes locked for a brief moment, in which Suzuka appeared completely befuddled. Duuz now realized that the thing carrying him was much smaller than he. Its birdlike feet –

_Birdlike feet?!?_

Duuz's eyes grew wide.

It was Charlie who had saved him.

They passed Nataka as the stampede behind them grew ever-closer to Leilong and Suzuka. Nataka leapt from footfall to footfall with incredible ease. His jumping strides outdid those of any organic being by far, despite the obvious stubbiness of his legs. However, he couldn't quite match the pace of the female Ctarl-Ctarl, whom they passed next. She ran as quickly as she could, scolding the planet for not letting her transform.

"I _hate_ running away from bad guys!" she shouted to no one in particular.

Duuz looked back to Leilong and Suzuka, who it now seemed were right at the fringe of the attacking wave. As they obviously struggled with their pursuers, a flying figure, going the wrong way, approached them rather quickly. They were raised into the air and flew away with the man that Duuz now knew was Ark Manaf. As he passed over Charlie's head, Charlie passed by Eldred, who was still running at full speed.

Eldred looked over at the pair. "In all my greatness," he said to himself through labored breaths, "I still can't run as fast as a Sylgrian with a Saurian on his back!"

Charlie ran up the ramp into the _Outlaw Star_ where Valeria, Melfina, Leo, Jim, Hideki, Ark, Suzuka, Leilong, Ron, and Saiyo waited. He set Duuz down. Eldred pounded up the ramp, running into the rear wall with a thud. Aisha leapt in and slid across the floor. Nataka bounded up the ramp in two leaps, landing on the button to close the ramp. What now seemed like more than a hundred of the evil creatures entered the clearing where the ship had landed. The ramp… slowly… closed.

There was a thud on the outside of the ramp. Then another. Then another. The creatures began pounding on the ship. Scraping sounds revealed that they were either climbing it or trying to open it like a can of tuna.

The ship shuddered.

"I didn't like the sound of that," Eldred said, taking a break from panting.

The room began to tilt.

Everyone's eyes grew wide, except Nataka, who doesn't even have eyes.

_I'm gonna die twice in the same day_, Saiyo thought. _I'm too old for this shit!_

Everyone braced themselves in the corner of the floor and the rear wall as the ship accelerated in its descent. The ship was nearly parallel to the ground. They held their breath…

…Nothing happened…

…All of the noises from outside the ship had stopped…

The ramp began to open up into the sky. A figure in flight lowered itself down into the ship, landing on its feet right in front of them.

Everyone stared in awe at the human male in front of them.

"Are you all okay?" Gene Starwind asked. "I tried to let it down as easily as possible."

TO  
BE  
CONTINUED!!!

_Hey, this is Jim Hawking! Do you believe what just happened to me? What's the deal with Gene anyway? This is all getting a little weird. But don't worry, all my questions will be answered in the next exciting adventure of Outlaw Star, which is properly titled "Promised Land". You'd better get ready!_


	4. Promised Land

__

Now that I have your attention, let's get straight to the good stuff. Shall we?

**__**

PROMISED LAND

"Gene!" most of the others shouted. Jim and Melfina ran to him and embraced him.

Gene smiled but did not hug them back.

Saiyo checked his pulse. "Thought I had a heart attack…" he said quietly.

Aisha and Suzuka stood, smiling, thankful that their little fivesome was finally reunited.

Ron reached into his pocket. Amazingly, Harry's brain was still in one piece.

As Jim and Melfina continued to hold Gene, his smile faded. He raised his arms to push them away. As they stepped back, Gene saw the confused look on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked him. "And how in the heck did you learn to fly?"

Ark stepped forward and places his hands on Jim's shoulders. "The question of the day," he said. "I'm sure we are all ready to learn about this planet."

Gene levitated slowly out. "Follow me," he said. "There's someone I'd like you all to meet."

Eldred pushed to the front of the crowd, intense. "April," he said, almost ready to cry. He crouched and leapt clear of the ramp opening in one swift bound. He landed on the side of the ship, which was dented and slashed badly. He looked to the three figures standing in the clearing on his left. Sliding down the ship, he felt his heartbeat grow faster. He leapt to the ground and sprinted toward the woman. He slowed as he approached her, stopping a meter in front of her.

"April," he breathed, smiling, a single tear rolling down his cheek. With arms wide open, he moved further toward her. He stopped. Something was holding him back. It felt like he was hugging the hull of a ship, some unseen barrier between him and his true love.

April looked away.

Eldred fell back, so confused that he lost his balance and took a knee. Brow wrinkled, he looked her in the eyes, his own eyes watering. "Why?" he whispered. He wiped one of his eyes and put his other knee to the ground.

She was obviously saddened but still said nothing.

Eldred leaned over and put his head in his hands.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked up at April, hoping it was her. He turned around to see Aisha there. In the background, Ark was on the ship, using magic to lift the weaker people out of the room. Leilong, Suzuka, Nataka, and Charlie were walking swiftly but hadn't made it more than halfway yet. The others waited at the side of the ship until they could move on as a group. Eldred looked up into Aisha's eyes, then at her hand on his shoulder.

He stood, a head taller than anyone else there, including Gene. He looked over at the disfigured, silver-haired man in a Kei uniform.

"Let's wait until we are all present," the man said. "We have all the time in the universe here." He pointed at the sun.

It had stopped moving.

"Where are the things that were chasing us?" Eldred asked.

Treno Lunn smiled. "'_Things_'?" he mocked. "The creatures chasing you are not '_things_'. They are the protectors of the universe, the single greatest force in the history of being."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Aisha demanded.

"They are the descendants of the race that created the Galactic Leyline," Gene said. "Their ancestors fled the planet we know as the 'Grave of the Dragon' and landed here." He paused, smiling evilly. "They are the reason that April, Melfina, Harry, Ark, Hadul, Urt, and myself even exist."

"Then my theories were correct!" Ark stated as he landed beside Eldred. "How do you know all this is actually true?"

"Because it is," Lunn stated impatiently.

Four of the others stepped up now. The rest were nearby, making their way closer to the group.

"Shall we?" Lunn asked. He turned and walked down the path toward the volcano. Gene and April followed him obediently. Everyone else followed doubtfully.

"Where are we going?" Eldred demanded, running forward into Lunn's way.

"To the second phase of the Galactic Leyline," Lunn said. "To the most important moment in history." He looked back at Gene.

Eldred was pushed aside by an unseen force. He motioned as if he was ready to charge the Kei pirate, but could not move toward him. He gave up, letting his arms fall to his side. His feet touched the ground once more and he followed Leilong's footsteps in the middle of the troupe, defeated.

Another tear hit the ground.

Treno Lunn, Gene Starwind, April Khan, Leilong, Eldred, Aisha Clan-Clan, Ron MacDougall with his brother Harry's memory board, Leo, Jim Hawking carrying Gilliam's capsule, Twilight Suzuka, Ark Manaf, Saiyo Wong, Nataka, Valeria, Charlie, Duuz, and Hideki Oda paced on toward the unknown.

Ron stared intensely at the back of Lunn's head. Gene Starwind's shooting hand had just taken a back seat in Ron MacDougall's plans of revenge.

Saiyo ran forward to Lunn's side. "Hello, sir," he said. "I tried getting to you, but we got sidetracked a little."

Lunn smiled lopsidedly, due to the scar tissue on the right of his mouth. "Don't worry about it, Mister Wong," he said. "I assume that your orange-haired friend back there is the one you were bringing to me. Correct?"  
Saiyo nodded. "You still have a use for him?" he asked.

"Not likely," Lunn replied, glancing over to Saiyo. "He isn't part of the prophecy as it was written…" he paused, lauging evilly. "…But then again, neither was I. None of us or those who played their parts before us were mentioned in the documents I have uncovered, save Gene Starwind and April Khan."

"They were mentioned by name?" Saiyo asked.

"No," Lunn responded, "by face."

Gene stepped forward. "What do you actually know about what I'm supposed to do?" he asked Lunn.

"Enough," Lunn replied. "Enough."

"What _am_ I supposed to do, then?" Gene asked.

"It will all come together soon," Lunn replied. "Very soon, you will hold the powers you were destined to hold."

Saiyo stepped in front of Lunn and began walking backward. "I still get paid, right?" he asked. "I broght Ark just like I said I would."

"Don't worry about it," Lunn said. "You did your job well and you will be rewarded well."

Toward the middle of the procession, Jim Hawking walked, following in Leo's footseteps.

"What do you think will happen?" Gilliam asked, perched on Jim's shoulder.

"I don't know," Jim said, "and I don't like how it's starting." He picked Gilliam up off of his shoulder. "There's something different about Gene," he said to Gilliam, held out in front of him. "You think that ugly Kei guy in the white suit brainwashed him and that April person?"

Suzuka, walking behind Jim, put it into perspective rather plainly. "There are things that even Gene Starwind would sell his soul for," she said, "and we are about to find out what those things are."

"You guys sound so depressing," Leo said. "The way _I_ see it is this – we are part of the single most elite group of adventurers in history, and we're about to not only _witness_ but _take part in_ something that's greater than all of us."

"You think?" Jim asked.

Leo bowed his head. "I don't know, really," he said. "Hoping's the best I can do right now so _that's_ what I'm doing."

"A wise philosophy," Gilliam said.

"I believe that you must consider the worst scenario and prepare yourself," Suzuka said, "even if you sincerely do have high hopes."

"Another wise philosophy," Gilliam said.

"I just say 'Don't expect anything, do your best, and don't get killed,'" Jim said to his friends, "and that's the wisest philosophy so far."

"Well said," Gilliam responded. "My philosophy is 'Make backups of your memory so that it doesn't matter when you _do_ get destroyed.'"

"I'd call that wise," Leo said, "but we can't all do that!"

Ron MacDougall, walking ahead of Leo, was oblivious to the conversation behind him. He stared still at Lunn, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists.

"Where'd all the bad guys go?" Aisha asked loudly. "Did you guys kill 'em or did they run away screaming?"

"They left," Lunn called back in reply, "neither running nor screaming."

Aisha wrinkled her brow. "Huh?"

"Here's one of them now," Lunn said. The group stopped.

Lunn stepped forward to where the red creature was standing sentry. "I am Treno Lunn," he said. "These two are Gene Starwind and April Khan, children of prophecy," he pointed to them individually. "The rest are their friends." He faced the behemoth again. "We would like to speak with your chieftain about the powers housed within this planet."

The sentry nodded and motioned for them to follow him into the forest.

"What shall we call you?" Lunn asked.

"I am known as Hrocch-tlarrh," the guard bellowed. The sound of his voice was like two large rocks being scraped against each other, "the second watch sentry of the Lurrkbor gate and the nephew of Emperor Grbak-tletch. You can call me 'Rock' if you like. It's easier for otherworlders to say."

"What should we call your uncle when we meet him?" Lunn asked.

"Your highness," Rock replied, telekinetically lifting a great rock from the soft Earth at his feet. A stairway was revealed in the ground. Another creature looked up at them from the bottom. "Marrh glinn sstrochhil klandrror mocha gleekko, Linnshtor-tlamm," Rock bellowed. As the other guard made his way out, Rock gestured for them to clear his way.

'Linnshtor' walked near to the path where Rock had been standing, but focused on the boulder levitating above Rock's head. Rock made his way down the stairs, followed by the others. Ron took up the rear, not very pleased at all. As he disappeared into the dark stairwell, the boulder settled where it had once been.

Linnshtor sat down on top of it.

OUTLAW STAR

Rock lit the long dark hallway for them. "Uncle is not pleased with you," he said. "Reportedly, five of you have injured or killed our civilians."

"What will happen to them?" Gene asked. Lunn gave him a sideways glance, and not a very nice one.

"Nothing," Rock replied, "if you can convince him that you are _all_ part of the prophecy."

"How much do you know about the prophecy?" Lunn asked Rock silently.

"There is much that I know and much that I do not," Rock replied. "The origin of mana shall provide the chosen ones with enough power to heal all planets and grant infinite knowledge to all who enter."

"What about power?" Lunn asked.

"The only ones with true power are the Drrigonnzarrh, the descendants of the human-born Drrigonnzarrh, and the one called Melfina," Rock replied.

"What do you mean 'true power'?" Lunn asked.

"Mana manipulation," Rock responded, gesturing to the light emanating from his palm.

"What will happen when we perform the ritual?" Lunn asked.

"Mana will be restored to other planets," Rock replied.

"No," Lunn said impatiently. "What will happen to all of _us_?"

"That is knowledge I do not have," Rock said. "All I know is that the children of prophecy, your 'Gene' and 'April', will briefly be given mana powers unlike any experienced before. As for the spectators… nothing has been clearly defined in our religious documents."

Lunn grew quiet and fell back some.

Rock stopped. "We have arrived," he said. The wall parted like drapes and revealed a brightly lit, well decorated throne room, all in shades of red, orange, and yellow. A large, pale Drrigonnzarrh in a dark red robe was pacing near the throne.

"Uncle," Rock called.

Emperor Grbak turned to his nephew as the group piled in through the entrance of the large room. "No need to speak this 'English' for _their_ sake!" Grbak yelled. "Ouolk lik djarrkla romdrragh glie?"

"Uncle," Rock said again. "_They_ are the children of our long-awaited prophecy." He pointed to Gene and April. "We should respectfully speak English in their presence!"

Grbak's eyes widened. He lamely trotted to Gene. "He _is_ the one!"

Gene waved up at the immense Emperor. "Nice to meetcha," he said.

Lunn stepped between Grbak and Gene. "Your majesty," he began, "I am Treno Lunn, the orchestrator of this event. Might I just say that it has been a lifelong goal of mine to meet the leader of the race that brought our religious icon into being. You're like a God to me. I have _so_ many questions for you."

"Questions that I most likely cannot answer," Grbak said. "I am most likely the oldest being in the universe, but I am still not as old as the Galactic Leyline. I was born after your 'religious icon' was. That was centuries ago by your reckoning, back when my father ruled. Back when Humans were first discovering colonization of non-Earth satellites, back when the Sylgrians only saw 'Ether streams' as a destructive force in the far reaches of their colonies, back when 'Saurians', 'Intellibots', and 'Constructs' were just a glint in a madman's eye. Yes, indeed, I _am_ old, but not old enough to fully understand what will happen today." He turned and walked away. "The 'Leyline' as you call it was designed thousands of your years ago, before even my grandfather was born. Back then, there was mana everywhere, and every Drrigonnzarrh could manipulate it in fashions long since forgotten. We knew everything back then. All of the 'Leyline' knowledge was lost when my great-grandfather died. My father just barely got together enough of his grandfather's notes to create your 'Icon' and the DNA of the first key to the Leyline and send them away, but he didn't really understand what he was doing. I have spent my whole life delving deeper into prophecies and rituals, but I grow old." He sat down in his throne. "I will die soon," he said. "I have used the mana to prolong my life for a very long time, but the next generation of Drrigonnzarrh are much weaker and will most definitely live much shorter lives. My son has already died. My brother had two children: Hrocch and his sister Luindaali. Soon, Hrocch will take over the throne."

Rock bowed his head. "Uncle…" he said.

Grbak smiled. "I am not sad!" he said happily. "I am _very_ pleased that the children of prophecy have come to me during my rule, and while my heir is old enough to witness it as well." He smiled more widely. "Your timing could not have been better."

Lunn made his way to the throne. Gene, April, and Rock followed him. "We shall begin soon," Lunn said. Where is the Leyline now?"

The rest of the group spread around the room, some looking at the items on the wall, most of them focusing on Lunn and the others. Ron leaned against the warm wall near the doorway.

"Below you," Rock answered Lunn. "The center of this small planet houses an incredible force of mana. One year ago, the mana grew dark and those who approached it could describe the experience as if a hand was groping around inside their heads."

"That's the feelin' alright!" Aisha shouted from across the room. "I wanted to rip my ears off!"

Grbak ignored her as he began speaking. "We knew what it was," he said. "We knew the Leyline had returned. We knew to wait for the children of prophecy. It's rather peculiar that the two events would occur so near each other. Am I also to assume that you were all present when the Mistress of the Leyline opened the doors?"

"Not all of us," Gene replied, "but most of us were, yes. Melfina over there is your 'Mistress'."

"Fascinating," Grbak said. "Very fascinating!" He leaned forward. "Then the ship that some of you arrived on… that's the one that my father designed and sent away with the child?"

"It is," Leilong said. "The _XGP_ as Hazanko and Gwen Khan called it. It's the _Outlaw Star_."

"Brilliant!" Grbak squealed. "It's necessary to reach the planet's core!"

"How's that?" Eldred asked from nearby.

"It's how we got in the first time," Suzuka told him. "Without Melfina and the _Outlaw Star_, we'd never make it to the core."

"But how do we get that deep into the planet?" Eldred asked her. She didn't have an answer. He stuck out his tongue.

"It's actually kind of simple," Grbak said. "My nephew will show you. Hrocch, take them back to their ship."

Ron cracked his knuckles, staring at Lunn.

OUTLAW STAR

"Into the volcano?" Leilong shouted at Rock. "Are you mad? Even the _XGP_ can't do that! Even if it could, we'd all burn alive!"

They were standing in the clearing where the _Outlaw Star_ had landed and fallen. Melfina and Leo were having a conversation about why Leo wasn't present when the _Shangri-La_ entered the Leyline. Eldred stared at April, standing a few paces from Gene and Lunn out in the middle of the field. Leilong and Rock stood further from Gene than April, together in the field. Aisha sat behind Eldred, watching him watch April. Jim stood up with Gilliam in his hand and walked toward Leilong.

The ship creaked and groaned as Gene lifted it with his newfound telekinesis and set it upright. Slashes and dents were all over it. Gene frowned and stared intently at it. "The metal might be resistant to the lava," he said. "But we would have to do something about these dents."

"No we wouldn't," April said. "We can just part the lava in front of us like Rock did at the throne room door."

Gene shook his head. "It still wouldn't be safe," he said. "What if we find that the closer we are to the Leyline itself, the weaker our powers get?"

Rock stepped forward and shook his head, then placed a hand on Gene's shoulder. "The closer to the center of the planet you get, the stronger you shall become," he said. "Our men, despite the headaches they received, grew _very_ strong in our lower passages, even after the Leyline returned."

Gene frowned. "I don't know," he said. "I want to be absolutely certain that we're all safe."

April got in his face, smiling and brushing his bangs back. "So thoughtful," she said. "You do love your friends, don't you?"

Gene looked toward the group, all sitting together talking. Melfina smiled at something Leo said. Aisha closed her eyes, holding her knees to her chest and setting her chin on them. He couldn't see Suzuka very clearly. She was laying in the grass with her eyes shut. The others were so happy and carefree despite the situation, except for Eldred, purposefully looking away, and Ron, obviously angered by something. Jim, Lunn, and Leilong were talking now. Jim was pointing to the ship. Rock, the newest addition to their ensemble, walked toward Jim and Leilong, looking up at the ship. Gene looked at April, smiling.

"Yeah," he said. "They're the best friends I could ask for, even if some of them want me dead." He smiled.

April wrinkled her brow and pursed her lips. "Ooh," she said, "sarcasm. One of the many, many things that make me glad that I'm the woman of the prophecy and you're the man."

Gene's smile turned into a devilish grin. He looked away, his smile fading again. "What about our kid?" he asked, frowning as she put her arms around his waist. "And the city in ruin?"

"Well," April said, glancing away, "Lunn said that we don't really know what those pictures mean. The boy on the tapestry might not be ours. Maybe he wasn't the one to destroy the city. Maybe –" she paused, leaning to look Gene in the eye "– he just finished defeating the person who destroyed the city."

"Maybe the city won't be destroyed if we don't unlock the Leyline," Gene said. "Maybe we can still change the other tapestry."

"Second thoughts?" April asked him, smiling. "Whatever we do, those things will come true. They are prophecy, so we might as well live with it."

Gene nodded. He heard footsteps in the grass beside him. As he turned to see who it was, he saw two other things stand out. Melfina, crying, had her face buried in Leo's shoulder. Eldred held his head as Aisha rubbed his shoulders and then leaned over to place her cheek on his back, hugging him.

"Your young friend tells me that the ship should be ready to go if the two of you have decided to shield it from the lava," Lunn said as Gene turned to him. April held on to Gene, letting her chin rest on his shoulder. Lunn smiled his lopsided smile. "It's good to see the two of you bonding," he said. "I was afraid that you weren't enjoying your important roles in history." He patted Gene on the shoulder and made his way toward the ship. "Let's go!" he called to the others, waving them toward the ship.

Gene stared at Melfina as Leo helped her to her feet. He glanced over at Leo just as Leo was looking his way. Leo saw Gene's blank stare and put his arm around Melfina, leading her to the ship.

Leilong and Jim passed Gene and April. April smiled once more at Gene then followed the group up the now-extended ramp. Rock stopped next to Gene.

"Your Constructs are not well," he said. "Are you certain that the Mistress of the Leyline is fit to play her part once again."

"I've never been certain of anything in my life," Gene said without turning toward the immense Drrigonnzarrh. He walked away, his hands in his pockets, his face turned toward the ground.

Rock looked around the clearing and jogged up the ramp, which began to close behind him.

OUTLAW STAR

Gene Starwind settled into his old seat in the cockpit of the _Outlaw Star_. Melfina slid into the tank behind him. The two of them made a point not to look at each other. Jim Hawking buckled into the front-most seat. April Khan and Treno Lunn also found their seats and fastened into them. Rock stood still on the vertical cockpit floor, held in place by a spell. Gilliam II flashed to life above Jim's head.

"All passengers are safely seated," Gilliam said. "We are prepared for departure."

"Let's go, then," Gene said. "Get the engines started."

"Aye, captain," Gilliam said. After a pause he spoke again. "It's good to have you back sir."

Gene did not smile or respond, his eyes were shut.

"All engines green," Melfina said, and without much enthusiasm.

"Let's do this," Gene said, opening his eyes.

The ship took off and was quickly propelled to the volcano. It stopped there for a second, then dove down inside, never once touching the lava itself.

Grbak stood at the mouth of the cave, watching the ship quickly disappear.

He turned and left.

OUTLAW STAR

"It is leading me in just like before," Melfina reported. "Adjusting course."

Gene watched as the lava turned into an engulfing, black cloud. There were sirens briefly in everyone's ears, but they found the path quickly and dove deeper into the sphere. After awhile, Gene, Jim, and Melfina began to see differences from their previous encounter with the Leyline.

"Is it brighter in here all of a sudden?" Jim asked. "I thought there were only _black_ clouds in the Leyline."

"It is different now," Melfina said. "I cannot see our destination. I don't know if it is taking us to the same place as before."

The clouds were now white, and growing brighter by the second.

Gene squinted.

Jim turned his head. "That's kinda bright, doncha think?" he shouted, the questioned aimed at whatever forced had made it so bright.

Soon there was so much pure light that they could not see each other, could not bear to open their eyes.

"Where are we?" Gene demanded.

"I don't know," Melfina called back. "It's not telling me anything."

"We hafta be somewhere!" Gene yelled. "Are we still moving?!? How are we gonna know when we get to where we're going if all this light is blinding us?"

They shielded their eyes with their arms or hands as the light grew even more intense.

"Where are we?!?" Gene yelled.

The light lessened. Gene opened his eyes.

"What the?!?"

Outside the ship, everything was black.

"We have stopped moving," Melfina reported. "Our horizontal landing gear is down. We are parked on something solid."

"But _what_?" Jim asked. "All I see is _black_!"

"Let's go out and see," Gene said, unbuckling. "Why don't you let everyone know that we are here, Gilliam?"

"Certainly," Gilliam said.

April stood and put her hand on Gene's shoulder. He put his on hers and held it. A light began to grow as they touched. They pulled their hands away. The light disappeared.

Lunn smiled. "It is time," he said. "Once we have all left the ship, we can begin."

Gene stared at his hand. His heart was pounding. He closed his eyes and swallowed… hard.

OUTLAW STAR

"The ramp doesn't _lead_ anywhere!" Eldred shouted. "What are we supposed to do when we get to the end? Sprinkle fairy dust and think happy thoughts?"

"We're parked on somethin'," Charlie said, pushing to the front and walking down the ramp. "Let's find out what."

Everyone watched as he made his way to the bottom and stepped off. His foot found a solid fall.

Jim walked down the ramp. "What I think is weirder than the darkness is the fact that we can still see you," he said. "You're lit but nothing around you is."

"And I cain't see what I'm standin' on!" Charlie cried out, now crouched and moving his hand along the floor. "I cain't really _feel_ it, either!"

Jim cautiously placed a foot into the void. He jumped up and down, not making a sound. "It's like _thick air_ or something!" he shouted. "I can't feel it there, but it still stops me when I fall on it!"

Everyone else made their way out into the blackness.

Gene held back reluctantly.

Ron held back as well, remaining in front of Gene. "If you don't want to follow through with this…" he started.

Gene held up a hand and walked down the ramp past Ron. Ron opened his mouth to speak to Gene again but couldn't. He was afraid of something. He looked at Lunn and shook his head, following Gene to where the others stood. For a moment, they stood together at the edge of the ramp. Ron stepped down and backed away, watching Gene.

Gene stepped off and began walking toward where the others stood.

Ron grew wide-eyed and gasped. "Gene," he said. Gene turned to look at him and instantly saw what Ron saw. The blackness was disappearing from around Gene's footfalls. A picture of stars replaced the darkness, spreading far and wide. Ether streams, nebulas, star systems, comets, planets, colonies… all came into view. Everyone stepped closer together as the ship itself disappeared as well. The room was very quickly replaced with a virtual map to the stars.. only something was very different.

"There's Earth!" Jim said, "and Mars!"

"And Sylgri," Charlie stated.

"Oracia Three," Valeria mumbled.

"Sentinel!" Jim pointed to the planet where he was born.

"Blue Heaven," Suzuka said, pointing to the colony. She drew her finger away from it. "And there's the Heiphongs," she said.

"I grew up there," April said.

"Liang Kei," Lunn said, pointing to the red planet he lived on.

"The Grave of the Dragon!" Aisha said pointing. "Planet Ctarl!"

"Falador," Ark said, pointing to his native planet, "and there's Tenrei!"

"That is Corbon," Nataka said. "That is where I was built, by the Corbonite mechanics there."

"Drrigonn," Rock said. "I wonder how far from it we really are, now…"

Saiyo pointed. "Hey, Gene!" he said. "Remember Hecatoncheires Prison?" He pointed to the prison.

"And _there's_ that planet where we found all that dragonite!" Aisha yelled.

"Symka Five," Jim said quietly. "Bad memories…"

"Okay, okay!" Eldred shouted. "There's a bunch of planets we recognize and a whole lot more we don't! Why are they all together like this?"

Gene and April looked at each other. The scene from the tapestry.

Lunn cackled. "Perfect," he said. "You two undoubtedly know what to do."

April offered her hand to Gene. Gene accepted it. The light that puled from their bodies wa brilliant but small in size. April moved closer and hugged Gene, holding him tight. The light grew more and more. Gene and April left the ground and began slowly spinning. Flashes of light shot from their bodies to Ark, the Rock, then Melfina, then to the planet Drrigonn above their heads. Slowly, beams of light connected the pair to every inhabited planet or geo-colony, and to all of their friends as well.

"What's going on?" Jim asked, waving his hand in the beam of light.

Ark left the ground and began moving, circling Gene and April as they spun. Some of the planets began moving as Rock, then Melfina, then Jim and the others were brought into the air and began moving also. Lunn laughed evilly. "This is amazing!" he shouted. "Participation!"

Half of them spun clockwise, half counterclockwise, weaving around Gene and April like a maypole. The planets moved around in much more intricate patterns, circling each other in a rhythmic pattern. Everything became bright, pulsing with intense light.

OUTLAW STAR

"What is this?" Fred Lou asked himself as he waved through the glowing air around him. He looked over to his bodyguards who had the same aura. One of them poked the other to see if it was real. Even Fred's houseplants were glowing in the small Earth office. He wrinkled his brow.

OUTLAW STAR

"Hey, um… Mikey," Swanzo said, scratching his shell. "Do you feel okay? You're practically glowing!"

The human mechanic looked down at himself and brushed away at the glow. "What the?!?" he shouted, standing up straight. "I don't like this at all!"

Swanzo looked at his own hand. He was glowing too. "What do you think it is?"

OUTLAW STAR

Clyde was polishing a glass.

"Hey!" Iris said to him. "How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Clyde asked.

"The glass is glowing!" she said. "How'd you –" She stood up quickly. "_You're_ glowing!" she shouted.

The glass dropped and shattered.

"So are you," Clyde said.

OUTLAW STAR

Sitting at his throne, Grbak closed his eyes. He stuck his clawed hand into the air, watching it glow through one half-slit eye. His hand fell. His breathing slowed… then stopped.

Outside in the jungle, everything glowed. Linnshtor still sat on the boulder, resting, oblivious to the events around him.

The jungle was unbearably bright now in some places, pulsing with an extreme energy unlike anything witnessed by man.

Then…

It stopped.

OUTLAW STAR

"That's it?" Eldred said. "A merry-go-round and then 'poof'? I wanted to see some explosions or lightning bolts or something!"

Everyone stood still in the darkness at the end of the _Outlaw Star_'s ramp. The ceremony was over just as quickly as it was begun.

"What about the infinite knowledge and power?!?" Lunn shouted.

"Would you just shut the hell up!?!" Ron screamed at him. "I can't put up with you any longer! I don't _care_ if you have Gene and April to protect you! You killed my father and Gene's, and for _that_, you die!" He raised his Caster-hand and pointed it at Lunn, ready to fire. As his hand began to glow, a look of fear manifested on Lunn's face.

"You're… the _MacDougall_ child?" Lunn said. "I thought that we took care of you long ago!"

Ron's hand whipped to the side as a bullet hit it. The Caster spell missed its target and disappeared into the blackness.

Saiyo Wong stood with his pistol out. "Not until I get paid, MacDougall!"

Ron, angered, loaded another shell into his hand and aimed it at Saiyo. Gene Starwind, pacing toward him, stepped into his way. "Killed my father?" he said. "Lunn killed _my_ father?"

Ron put his hand down. "He employed my father to hunt you down as a child," he said. "He killed my father aboard the _El Dorado_ and gunned down your father's ship, trying to get to you."

_So it WAS the El Dorado all along…_ Gene thought. _Just not MacDougall…_

Gene looked at Lunn. Lunn put up his hands in protest. "Listen," he pleaded. "I can explain!"

Behind Gene, Eldred snatched Saiyo's pistol.

Gene walked further toward Lunn. "You've been playing my emotions all this time when really it was _you_ who killed my father?"

Eldred stepped up to walk beside Gene. He aimed the pistol. "You weren't the only one he used," he said. "_YOU TOOK APRIL FROM ME!_" he yelled. "Do you know how it _FEELS_ to be so completely in love with someone who gives it all away for some stupid prophecy?"

April stepped up beside Lunn. "Eldred," she protested. "Don't be so mad. Just because I fell in love with Gene, that doesn't mean I don't still love you too."

"That doesn't change what he did," Eldred said coldly. "If it wasn't for him, I would still be the _only_ man in your life." He raised the barrel of the pistol and pulled the trigger.

Lunn saw the bullet, aimed straight at his chest, and did the only thing he could think. He pulled April in front of him. The bullet pierced straight through her heart. She fell to the floor.

Leilong jumped but Suzuka held him back. Ark ran to April's side and held the wound. Gene raised his hand, pointed at Lunn.

A pause.

Gene and Ark looked at each other. "My powers are gone," they both said. They looked at April, taking her last gasps of air, her lungs filling with blood.

Eldred kneeled beside her. Neither of them said a word; they simply stared into each other's eyes.

"Allow _me _to finish this," Ron said. In a flash, Lunn was hit from the side with a powerful Caster spell. Eldred and Ark shielded their eyes at the intensity of it, but were blasted back as Lunn's body was stretched and contorted in the red energy. His body was sucked into a small purple ball, his screams echoing in the darkness the only thing left of him.

Ron fell to his knee.

"Number… four," Gene said. "How did you find one of them?"

Ron stood, smiling. "There's this lady on the Hot Springs Planet Tenrei who will do anything for a mortal who beats her at table tennis," he said.

Ark frowned. "Everybody but _me_…" he said.

Eldred crawled to April's side. She had stopped breathing. He looked at the others. "I did this," he whispered. He closed his eyes, letting the tears come freely. He lifted her up and carried her up the ship's ramp.

Ron reached into his pocket to be sure that Harry was still intact. He looked from the memory board to Gene. "You think I should tell him what he really is?" he asked Gene.

"What is he?" Gene asked.

Ron smiled, pocketing the board and following Eldred up the ramp.

Saiyo kicked the ramp as he made his way up it as well. "No money for me," he grumbled. Ark and Nataka caught up with him.

"At least you have friends, sir," Nataka said.

"What good are friends if you can't afford to do shit with them?" Saiyo said. "I don't even have a friggin' ship anymore!"

Rock, the silent sentry, walked up the ramp with Leilong, Charlie, Duuz, Hideki, and Valeria in his wake.

Leo took his arm from around Melfina and gestured toward Gene with his head. He left and walked up the ramp.

Melfina walked up to Gene. They faced each other and gazed into each other's eyes. Melfina fell forward into his arms, smiling. Gene held her close, swinging her around.

"Those two…" Gilliam said.

Jim, Aisha, and Suzuka walked up the ramp.

"Don't you just think that's precious, Suzu?" Aisha said.

"Yes," Suzuka replied, "but stop calling me 'Suzu'!"

"What about you, kid?" she asked Jim.

"I'm _not_ a kid!" Jim asserted. "But yeah, they _are_ kinda cute together."

"Yeah," Aisha said. She ruffled Jim's hair.

"Stop doing that, would ya?" Jim shouted, pushing his hair back down.

As they reached the top of the ramp, they saw Eldred sitting in a chair with April in his lap, held close to him.

_There goes MY good mood_, Jim thought, bowing his head.

Eldred kissed April on the forehead, tears flowing from his cheeks.

OUTLAW STAR

A week later, the _Outlaw Star_ was finally ship-shape again. The Drrigonnzarrh, male, female, young, and old, had all lent a hand to repair the metal that their army had slashed. Saiyo's ship, however, wasn't that lucky,

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Gene called down the ramp to Emperor Rock. "There's always room for friends on our ship!"

Rock smiled. "No thank you," he said. "Plus, now that the mana has left our planet, we must build farther from the volcanoes. I have my work cut out for me. At least the mana won't disrupt the ships anymore. We will finally be safe on the surface."

Gene smiled. "I'll make sure to visit later on down the road," he said. "I'll see you when your above-ground dwellings are up and in use!"

"I will see you then, Gene Starwind," Rock said, waving.

"Bye," Gene called.

Eldred walked past Rock and made his way up the ramp. "Later, _your highness_," he said.

"Finished saying your goodbyes?" Rock asked him.

Eldred nodded, smiling. "I think that things are good," he said. "I'm never finished saying goodbye, though. You've gotta keep everyone you care about right here –" he pointed to his head "– even if you can't be with them again."

"What will you do?" Rock asked.

"I think that if I was sad the rest of my life, April would want to beat me up," he said. "She wanted her friends to be happy, I'm sure."

"So you choose to be happy," Rock said, nodding. "A simple choice."

"I've always chosen to be happy," Eldred said. "You've gotta live each moment for the moment. The past can't be forgotten, but you shouldn't worry about mistakes you may or may not have made in the past. You can't defy the future, but you also shouldn't worry about it either. If you're happy in the here and now and choose to live that way, the future can't be that bad! I thrive on mistakes. As a computer, it's important that I grow as a person. Sometimes I feel like I don't fit in, but in the end, none of that matters. All I need to be happy is _me_ and nothing else can stop that."

"Wise words," Rock said. "Those emotions and decisions are very… human." He turned in his deep red clack and it whipped around him in the wind.

"Rock?" Eldred called. Rock stopped. "What will happen to me when I die?"

"_Can_ you die?" Rock asked over his shoulder.

"I'm not gonna make backup copies of my mind," Eldred said. "If my memory board is destroyed, that's it for me."

Rock thought about it briefly. "What happens when you are gone is up to you," he said. "I believe that all sentient… beings… return to the force that the Leyline leads to."

"That's where April is?" Eldred asked.

"In theory."

Eldred nodded. "Thanks," he said.

Rock smiled and waved.

"I'll be back," Eldred said. "You know that, right?"

"I do," Rock said, disappearing into the jungle.

The ramp closed.

OUTLAW STAR

"Wave goodbye to the keepers of the universe," Gene said. The cockpit of the _Outlaw Star_ was finally manned by our five heroes once again. Jim, Melfina, Suzuka, Aisha, and Gene looked down at the planet of Drrigonnzarrh for one last time before setting off slowly into space, toward Calim.

"Where do you think the Leyline is now?" Melfina asked.

"Everywhere," Gene said. "Every one of us is a gate now. Everyone is."

"You really think so?" Jim asked.

"I hope so," Gene answered. "It'd suck if we had to go through all this a third time."

Jim smiled.

"Where do you think everyone else will go?" Suzuka asked.

"I'm stayin' with _you_ guys," Eldred said, appearing from the door between Aisha and Melfina.

"Really?" Aisha asked sarcastically. "And _why's_ that?"

Eldred smiled and ran his hand through her hair.

"No way!" Aisha cried.

Eldred laughed.

Gilliam blinked to life. "Just to let you all know," he said. "Charlie went berserk again just now and Leilong and Duuz had to hold him steady while Nataka sedated him."

"I hope that guy ends up alright," Aisha said. "He's not really all that bad a person."

"Duuz will go easy on him, I'm sure," Eldred said. "He owes him one."

"So, Valeria, Duuz, Charlie, and Hideki will return to Oracia," Jim said. "Ark's probably gonna return to Tenrei."

"Yeah," Eldred said. "He was just telling Leilong and Saiyo about that place and it sounds like they'll be visiting it for awhile." He smiled, looking at Aisha. "I can't blame 'em, really…"

Aisha turned to face his smiling face, obviously angry with him. He stuck out his tongue. She smiled and squinted at him, shaking her head. "You're mean," she said.

"Yeah," he said quietly, looking away. "I'm a bad boy."

She grabbed his shirt collar and stood up. "Prove it!" she said, pulling him out of the room.

Jim sat in the front of the room with his arms crossed, _very_ unpleasant. "Can we _leave_ already?" he asked.

Gene smiled. "_When_ are you gonna grow up, young Master Hawking?" he said.

Jim jumped up, standing in his seat, facing Gene. "Hey, I'm _just_ as mature as anyone on this ship!" he said. "I'm just sick and tired of being the only one around without sex on his mind twenty-four-seven! I'm sick of everyone else _screwin'_ around like that when they _know_ how much I don't like it." He plopped back down in his seat.

"We've just gotta get you a girl," Gene said.

Jim closed his eyes and put his chin in his hand. "Yeah…" he whispered. "That'd be nice…"

Gene laughed.

"What about Ron?" Suzuka asked. "Where do you think he'll end up?"

"Once he gets Harry back to normal," Gene said, "he'll probably get back to his old self." He turned. "Nataka, by the way, is going to Blue Heaven. It would appear that the guy that designed Saiyo's ship is none other than our friend Swanzo and he isn't getting any of the royalties."

"Oh, yeah?" Jim said. "You think that'll repay our debt?"

Gene's eyes widened as he sat forward. "I hadn't even _thought_ of that!" he said. "Swanzo's gonna owe _us_ after he finds out!"

Jim threw his fist into the air. "Yeah!" he shouted. "Now there's only Fred to repay, and it looks like we're gonna need a few more repairs soon."

Gene fell forward dispiritedly. "Oh yeah…" he said and punched the console. "Why don't things ever work out in my favor?"

"You're alive, aren't you?" Suzuka asked. "That's something to be happy about."

"I guess…" Gene said.

"All engine systems are green," Melfina said merrily. "We can depart now."

"Everybody ready?" Gene asked, still sulking.

"Well…" Gilliam started. "Aisha and Eldred are not yet buckled in and I really do not think it would be proper to interrupt them."

Gene's eyes grew wide. "_Jeez_!!!" he said emphatically. "This guy works faster than _me_!"

"What makes you think it was his choice?" Suzuka interjected wryly.

"Oh yeah…" Gene said.

"Can we _go_ now?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," Gene said. "Let's do it!"

The _Outlaw Star_ disappeared into the distance.

THE  
END  
(OR IS IT?)  
  
_So, what did you think? I know there weren't nearly enough bad guys, but I think I did a fairly good job mixing everything up. I feel bad for killing April off… It's not fair. I kinda did it so that Gene and Mel ended up together and Aisha ended up with Eldred. You don't think that Eldred disrespected April by moving in so fast with Aisha, do you? Well… I don't!_

Anyway, there's plenty of questions left unanswered and I think I even opened up some MORE loose ends. There's plenty to work with if I ever decide to start writing again!

I think this is like the LONGEST O. S. fic now, isn't it? I hope you all like it! I know that even I found a few things to laugh at when I went to reread it. What really gets me every time though is Jayce's death… you hardly knew the guy but you really felt bad for him, too…

Anyway, I guess I should pull an Episode 26 and include an epilogue… which should have SOMEONE smiling…

ONE YEAR LATER

Eldred tapped his fingers in the maternity ward waiting room in San Francisco, waiting for word on the universe's newest hero. He leaned back in his chair, pulling all of his thoughts together. So many things had happened in the past year…

Ron got Harry back together and told him what really happened, then Harry disappeared one night and Ron's been out looking for him ever since.

Hadul passed away just a few weeks after Ark returned to Tenrei, but Saiyo and Leilong live on Mount Nantai together now, all animosity aside. Urt and Ark hooked up too. They live on Mount Nyotai, sans the beautiful hotsprings entourage that Urt once lived with.

Nataka now lives and works in Blue Heavan with Swanzo and Mikey. Their business is one of the most used rental-ship businesses in Security Forces territory. Dozens of Nataka-type Intellibots were made by hand and _employed_ by businessmen all over the cosmos.

Charlie was sent free from his brief imprisonment, as one of the appeals proved that there was not nearly enough hard evidence to convict him of any of the attacks. Duuz himself went on the record to say that "Charlie may not have been the Sylgrian who attacked me." He also denies any involvement with the disappearance of the crucial bits of evidence.

Hideki returned to Japan to help his parents with the harvest. While there, he realized how important being with family really was and decided to stay.

Valeria and Duuz are good friends again, now that Duuz is appreciating others once more. Just goes to show you that politeness and courtesy can go a _hell_ of a long way toward happiness.

There was a joint wedding on planet Tenrei. Everyone was there to wish the two happy couples good luck. Aisha convinced Eldred to honeymoon on Tenrei as well, just to see how much "heat" he could stand. Gene and Melfina wouldn't tell anyone where they were going to spend their honeymoon. But between you and me, there's this abandoned barn near this lake on Sentinel III…

And now the baby…

Eldred impatiently looked to the door. _C'mon already…_

He stood up and paced back and forth.

Footsteps…

Eldred looked to the door.

"It's a boy," Gene said. "He's got red hair, just like his father. You wanna come look?"

"I don't have time," Eldred answered. "I'm supposed to be meeting Aisha and a client for dinner. I came here because Aisha told me that Jim thinks you might find this job important."

"What's up?" Gene asked. "The pirates, the MacDougalls?"

"No," Eldred said. "Just some lady." He stepped forward, reaching for something in his pocket. "Jim seemed to think that the woman's _name_ would be important to you."

"Her name?" Gene asked. "Who is she?"

"The name they gave me was 'Rachel Sweet'," Eldred said, looking at a scribble on a piece of paper. "Why's that name so important?"

Gene was spellbound.

Eldred waved his hand in front of Gene's face, bringing him back to reality. "Who is she?" he asked.

Gene smiled. "She's Hot Ice," he said. He turned and returned to Melfina's room.

"Hot ice?" Eldred said to himself. "What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?!?"

LATER

(Now if _that_ doesn't leave this open for a continuing plot, I don't know what else _would_.)

http://www.geocities.com/fantasyguy50/nataka.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/fantasyguy50/eldred.jpg

for pictures (drawn by yours truly) of two of the characters. I have Lunn drawn… he'll be uploaded soon.


End file.
